


Momentum

by dem_hips



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-12
Updated: 2010-12-12
Packaged: 2017-12-12 01:57:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 27,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/805807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dem_hips/pseuds/dem_hips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short exploration of Aradia's character over time, which turned into a long exploration of Aradia's character over time.  Can also be seen as an attempt to fill in some gaps left (at the time of the writing) in the action of Act 5 Act 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Momentum

**Author's Note:**

> Named for Vienna Teng's song "Momentum."

1  
He heard them, too.

It was one of the first things that drew her to him. Tavros’s off-hand comment that there was someone else on this planet to share her burden escalated quickly into a plan to meet. He arrived at their agreed-upon location without his lusus, and he was floating. A psionic. Aradia’s heart fluttered a little with excitement as she climbed down from her own lizard-lusus’s back and approached slowly, smiling.

“I’m glad you came.”

He hung back, the tips of his mismatched shoes trailing along the ground a moment longer before he settled down.

“You’re apocalypthArithen?” he asked hesitantly, a lisp impeding his spoken words the way it influenced his typed ones. Thick, bi-colored lenses obscured his eyes, masking his opinion of her. But her smile never faltered as she took one more step closer to him, hand outstretched.

“Aradia.” It made her happy to realize that he could say her real name without the trouble her Trollian handle gave him. Maybe it would help make him more comfortable. “Aradia Megido. It’s great to finally meet you in person, tA.”

He didn’t take her hand at first. He just stared at her--presumably--from behind those red and blue lenses, considering her.

It was just as it was online. Sometimes he wouldn’t respond to her for long stretches of time, which used to confuse her and make her uncomfortable. She’d eventually grown to learn it was nothing personal. Sometimes he just didn’t feel like talking.

“Tholluckth,” he finally muttered, still not taking her offered hand. “Captor.”

Aradia blinked. “Pardon?”

The line of his mouth contorted, making his protruding fangs dip into the shape of an upside-down U. Panic shot through her insides like lightning, setting her nerves on edge, and just like that spark of energy, her brain caught on to what he had been trying to say.

“Oh--tA--I’m…I’m sorry, I just didn’t…” Stupid. Stupid stupid dumb! How insensitive could she get?!

He sighed, eventually, and allocated some of his concentration to form shapes in the air between them with the energy now flowing from his fingertips, flashing red and blue. It took her a moment to look up and notice it, the six little symbols spelling out “2ollux.”

“Oh…oh! Sollux, ok! Sorry, Sollux,” she said, her brief, sheepish smile fading. “Oh my god, that’s really awful! That you can’t--”

“Thay my own name properly?” Sollux snorted and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. The letters between them faded as he drew his focus away from them. “Yeah. You get uthed to it.”

Aradia paused. Over under a tree where her lusus had settled down, she flicked her tail once and watched her with her large eyes. Aradia pursed her reddened lips and gave the white form a short glance before turning back to her friend. “I guess you would…”

“Thatth why I prefer talking online,” he said suddenly, his statement punctuated with an absent shuffling of his feet. “Where itth jutht a typing quirk and I’m doing it on purpoth.”

“…Oh.” Her heart sank heavily in her chest, weighted down by sudden guilt. “I--”

“But you wanted to talk about thomething important,” he interrupted. “Tho I don’t mind.” Before her eyes, something about Sollux seemed to shift. It was subtle, but she watched how the hunching of his shoulders turned into a more relaxed, confident slouch, and the nervous shuffling in his feet subsided. “The voitheth.”

Online, he could be direct like this, too. Usually after his long periods of silence he would talk and talk, as if making up for those quiet moments, and during these times he was confident and painfully, sometimes abrasively honest.

“Are you hearing them now?” Her words grew hushed but excited, as if they were discussing a sensitive secret.

“Alwayth.”

“Me too. They’re like a quiet, spooky murmur underneath everything.”

“I don’t get the thame priviledth.” He paused and cocked his head to the side. Several yards away two tree stumps sat close together; they gravitated towards that spot and sat down, he with his feet planted lazily and wide apart, and she cross-legged, leaning forward with her hands braced on her ankles. “The fuckerth are alwayth tho loud. Like thpiritth don’t have anything better to do I gueth.”

“What sorts of things do they tell you?”

“Nonthenth, mothtly. They’ll make all thethe thpooky predicthionth but it’th all muthlebeatht thit. Thometimeth I feel like if I hear one more athinine comment about frogth or brainth being all floaty and on fire I’ll do thome thort of acrobatic fucking pirouette off the fucking handle.”

“It can get pretty confusing,” agreed Aradia, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. “But I guess you’ve gotten used to that, too?”

“Hell no.” What of Sollux’s face she could see scrunched up in extreme distaste. “They don’t ever _thut up_. Thome dayth I can’t even thleep with all their yakking. Tho I thtay up and code. Helpth to tune them out.”

“I wish I could…take on some of that burden for you,” Aradia told him earnestly. “If my hearing them louder meant they got harder to hear for you--”

“I don’t think that’th how it workth.”

“Yes, but…” Her shoulders slumped a little. “If it did.”

He shook his head and drew his knees up to his chest. “I wouldn’t with that on you,” he said eventually, his entire meaning again lost behind his glasses.

Aradia’s heart pounded a little harder, to her surprise. “…I’d be ok with it,” she told him quietly.

There was no answer. He seemed to have fallen into another lapse of brooding silence.

“…Sollux?” Biting the inside of her lip gently, Aradia leaned forward more, trying to get a good look through his tinted shades. She backed off when he shuddered, suddenly.

“…What did…?”

“They thaid you would be.” His voice sounded dry--hollow, like a dead tree.

“They said I would be what?”

“Ok with it.”

Confusion bloomed on the female troll’s features as she watched Sollux fall further into a pit of silence. “They’re talking to you about me?” She couldn’t help but shudder herself. “Kind of creepy.”

“Voitheth of the dead tend to be,” he agreed morosely. “Anyway, yeah, they talk about you thometimeth. Nothing in detail. Your Trollian name cometh up a lot. Tho do a lot of otherth. KK and Tavroth and Terezthi and your friend arthenicCatnip.”

“Nepeta?” A fresh wave of eerie feelings washed over her, a torrent of unpleasant warmth sticking to her skin like spoor slime. “Why would they talk about her?”

“I don’t know. Like I thaid, it’th uthually jutht nameth. I gueth in a way it’th good, though. I wouldn’t have met any of you otherwithe.”

“Oh…well, then I guess I’m glad.”

“You don’t thound glad.”

“Ok, well, I mean, I guess it’s not all that great that the voices are talking about me, but…” Aradia blushed and glanced aside, down at the roots of her stump where they mingled uselessly with the soil beneath them. “But I’m happy, if it meant I got to meet you.”

She missed a similar reaction in him, a faint golden color rising in his cheeks where in hers there was a deep red hue, and try as he might he couldn’t get his shades to cover it up.

“Then I gueth I am, too.”

The mumbled admission was delayed enough that when she glanced up again, gold had nearly entirely faded back into the gray of his skin, but that didn’t erase her smile. When they eventually parted, she still held it like a patch on her heart, filling it with a strange kind of happiness

 

2  
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: hey s0llux!  
TA: hii aradiia.  
TA: youre up pretty late.  
AA: yep! i just g0t back fr0m digging 0ut my newest excavati0n site  
TA: excavatiion?  
TA: liike archeology?  
AA: y0u g0t it! tavr0s and i just finished 0ur last flarp campaign s0 i figured n0w w0uld be a g00d time t0 start  
TA: that2 riight you two are partner2.  
AA: team charge f0rever! haha  
TA: eheheh 2ound2 liike you guy2 have fun wiith that.  
AA: y0u d0nt flarp d0 y0u s0llux?  
TA: nah ii could never get iintwo iit.  
TA: the game mechaniic2 are two 2iimple and hackiing iit would be two temptiing.  
AA: 0h  
AA: that w0uldnt be very fair  
TA: exactly.  
AA: s0 what d0 y0u d0 in y0ur free time?  
AA: just c0de all day l0ng  
AA: mr genius mcsmartyfangs  
AA: 0_0  
TA: eheheh wow no.  
TA: well ye2.  
TA: that2 ba2iically what ii do all day.  
TA: but iim no genius.  
AA: 0h c0me 0n!  
AA: half the time i talk t0 y0u y0ure g0ing 0ff 0n h0w amazing y0u are!  
AA: even terezi says y0ure brilliant  
TA: 2he 2aiid that?  
AA: well 0k n0t in th0se w0rds specifically  
AA: but m0re 0r less  
TA: iit2 not really all that great ii promii2e.  
TA: more liike ii know how two fuck around wiith 2hiit tiil iit doe2 what ii want.  
TA: whiich ii dont know ii gue22 ii2 the 2ame thiing.  
AA: …  
AA: s0 are you agreeing with me 0r n0t 0_0  
TA: who know2.  
TA: 2ometiime2 ii have a hard tiime thiinkiing iim worth anythiing.  
AA: ive n0ticed!  
AA: well just between y0u and me s0llux  
AA: i think y0ure pretty amazing  
AA: and if y0u believed in that all the time instead 0f 0nly half the time  
AA: i think y0ud be a l0t happier  
AA: anyway its getting light 0ut  
AA: we sh0uld b0th be getting t0 sleep  
AA: ill talk t0 y0u later s0llux!

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

TA: …thank2 aradiia.  
TA: ii gue22 try not two have two many niightmare2.  
TA: or 2omethiing.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

\------

arsenicCatnip [AC] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

AC: :33 < *ac spots a ruthless wild beast tamer and quickly ducks behind a huge boulder!*

AC: :33 < *but then she realizes its aa whos come to play with her and l33ps out and rubs against aas legs*  
AC: :33 < hiiiii aradia!  
AC: oops, i mean  
AC: *she says that*  
AA: hell0 nepeta  
AA: i mean  
AA: *the ruthless wild beast tamer wh0s n0t actually ruthless 0r a beast tamer happily rubs the cats belly in greeting*  
AA: w0w s0rry  
AA: im n0t very g00d at this  
AC: :33 < thats ok  
AC :33 < its pretty diffurent from flarping!  
AA: speaking 0f which  
AA: did y0u ask yet  
AC: :33 < oh  
AC: :33 < yes, i did  
AC: :33 < he wont let me :((  hes being purrfectly impossible about it!  
AA: did y0u tell him wh0 y0u w0uld be playing with  
AC: :33 < yes he made me >:((  
AC: :33 < even though terezi would be my partner  
AC: :33 < he says shes a bad influence  
AC: :33 < and a “disgrace to b100-b100ds” or something stupid like that  
AA: i can 0nly imagine what he had t0 say about tavr0s and me  
AC: :33 < :((  
AC: :33 < i did everything i could pawsibly think of  
AC: :33 < i told him if hed just talk to you hed s33 how wrong he was!  
AC: :33 < but he wouldnt listen  
AA: that seems t0 be the case m0st 0f the time  
AC: :33 < more like all of the time!  
AC: :33 < *ac rolls up into a ball of bristly anger!!*  
AC: :33 < *but thats really tiring so she cant hold it for long*  
AA: d0nt w0rry nepeta  
AA: y0u did y0ur best  
AA: well find s0me0ne else t0 play with us  
AC: :33 < :(( good luck!  
AA: i supp0se i sh0uld als0 wish y0u g00d luck  
AA: it cant be easy t0 deal with a m0irail wh0 d0esnt listen

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling arsenicCatnip [AC]

\------

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: s0llux?  
TA: oh hey.  
AA: hi  
AA: I have a questi0n f0r y0u  
TA: fiire away.  
TA: mr geniius mc2martyfang2 at your 2erviice.  
AA: um  
AA: i kn0w y0u said y0u d0nt flarp usually but  
AA: we really need a f0urth  
AA: i d0nt kn0w wh0 else t0 ask  
TA: oh hell.  
TA: aradiia we talked about thii2.  
AA: i kn0w  
AA: s0rry nevermind  
TA: nah iit2 cool.  
TA: you guy2 2eem really de2perate though.  
AA: well  
AA: terezi says she kn0ws s0me0ne wh0d d0 it  
AA: theyve been partners bef0re  
AA: but i d0nt kn0w  
AA: ive heard s0me bad things ab0ut her  
TA: what from the voiice2?  
AA: 0_0  
AA: n0 the flarp f0rums  
TA: oh.  
TA: who know2 that could ju2t be a bunch of 2ii22y newb2 complaiiniing about gettiing theiir a22e2 handed two them.  
AA: maybe  
TA: doe2nt 2ound liike a challenge team charge cant handle two me.  
AA: haha thats right!  
AA: 0k i think ill g0 let them kn0w the deal  
TA: tell me how iit goe2.  
AA: will d0!

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

\------

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

TA: hey aradiia.  
TA: um.  
TA: are you there?  
TA: gue22 not nevermiind then.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: 0h s0llux hi!  
AA: s0rry im a little busy  
AA: ill get back t0 y0u 0k?  
TA: uh.  
TA: ok 2ure.  
AA: whew  
AA: s0rry ab0ut that  
AA: we were just finishing up 0ur campaign  
TA: oh crap ii forgot that wa2 twoday.  
TA: how diid iit go?  
AA: i d0nt kn0w  
AA: she seemed 0k  
AA: maybe a little aggressive f0r playing with us f0r the first time  
AA: she didnt pull any punches thats f0r sure  
AA: she sure did seem t0 enj0y picking 0n tavr0s th0ugh  
TA: ii2nt that her job a2 hii2  
TA: uh  
TA: whatever you call what 2he wa2 doiing.  
AA: cl0uder yeah  
AA: i d0nt kn0w maybe im just being paran0id!  
AA: i guess we will see what kind 0f player ag shapes up t0 be  
TA: waiit.  
TA: ag?  
AA: 0h yeah her handle  
TA: a2 iin arachniid2griip?  
AA: wh0a  
AA: h0w did y0u kn0w 0_0  
TA: iit2 one of the name2 ii hear occa2iionally when ii do hear iit though iit2 loud.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: what d0es that mean  
TA: ii dont know 2omethiing horriible probably.  
AA: 0h n0  
AA: what d0 y0u think we sh0uld d0  
TA: ii wa2 ju2t jokiing aradiia ii actually dont know that iit mean2 anythiing.  
AA: 0h  
AA: well 0k  
AA: i still h0pe it d0esnt mean anything awful  
TA: me two.  
TA: ju2t uh.  
TA: be careful ii gue22.  
AA: we will!  
AA: s0 what was it y0u wanted t0 talk ab0ut bef0re  
TA: huh?  
AA: y0u seemed t0 have s0mething t0 say when y0u started talking t0 me bef0re  
AA: 0_0  
TA: oh riight.  
TA: ii gue22 ii ju2t wanted two 2ay  
TA: uh  
TA: thank2 for before.  
AA: f0r what  
TA: before when we were talkiing about me beiing two hard on my2elf.  
AA: oh that  
AA: y0u already thanked me f0r that silly!  
TA: yeah riight ok but ii diidnt feel liike iit wa2 enough.  
TA: 2o  
TA: ii wa2 wonderiing.  
TA: ii know iit2 a long trek and you dont have two iif you dont want two but iif you wanted two maybe come vii2iit 2ometiime.  
TA: you know.  
TA: you can.  
TA: vii2iit that ii2.  
TA: nevermiind iit wa2 a 2tupiid iidea forget ii 2aiid anythiing.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: s0llux!  
TA: god what.  
AA: this is exactly the kind 0f thing i was talking ab0ut  
AA: its n0t a stupid idea  
AA: in fact i think its a great idea and im h0n0red  
AA: s0 id l0ve t0 c0me  
AA: h0w ab0ut in tw0 days  
TA: why two?  
AA: haha because its y0ur fav0rite number  
TA: eheheh  
TA: ok iill 2ee you then.  
TA: iill be waiitiing for you out2iide.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

AA: uh

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

TA: 2orry ii diidnt mean two do that 2o fa2t.  
AA: 0_0  
TA: 2leep well aradiia.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

AA: 0_0  
AA: y0u t00 s0llux

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

\------

There was a knock on the door. That was unusual nowadays, but right at this moment not unexpected. Tools were set down and blocks were crossed as the impatient knock rapped again on her door.

“I’m coming I’m coming! Geeeeeeeez!”

The heavy panel slid open to reveal the moist and perpetually frustrated face of her neighbor. Living in close vicinity though they did, there was no direct path from his hive to hers. A long distance had to be traveled to get from one to the other on foot, hence the excessive sweating. At least, she hoped that was the cause. He was known to have less savory reasons to sweat.

“Hey Equius! Did you bring it?”

“The radiation engine, you mean? Did you think I would have come all this way without it?”

“Of course not!” Vriska grinned, holding out her hands for the part. “Ok so hurry up and give it here!” He paused, staring down at the girl’s skinny arms and frowned deeper.

“Perhaps it’s better if I brought it in to your work station.”

“Hey sure, whatever.” Shrugging, Vriska weaved her way through her mess of a hive, dodging scattered bits of discarded machinery and clothing and other various items, towards a large central room, where a skeleton of some large machine hung by wires from the ceiling. “You can set it down there.”

Equius carefully lowered the radiation engine to the appointed location and took a step back to briefly glance over her work in progress.

“Thanks buddy! And hey, since you came all this way you might as well make yourself at home and keep me company!”

Brief reactions flickered upon his face in quick succession, half-hidden by his cracked shades, but eventually he nodded and carefully pulled up a chair by her workspace.

“I can accept your hospitality only briefly. Nepeta has been causing trouble of late and I feel it would be wise to return to a position of availability as soon as possible.”

“Oh yeah?” Despite the disapproving look Equius cast her over the gossipy glint in her one visible eye, Vriska didn’t bother to feign disinterest. The motions of her hands as she regained her tools were decidedly automatic as she lent him her near-full attention. “What’s the crazy cat girl been up to this time?”

“You will show me a little more respect by not speaking of my moirail in such derogatory terms,” Equius snapped, his hand clenching a spare tube just lightly enough to bend it into a neat right angle.

“Right right ok, soooooooorry!” A grimace formed and dissolved from her face, though her concentration still deviated from the work at hand. There were several minutes of silence.

“So what’s she doing?”

The tube broke into two pieces. “It is hardly any of your business, Vriska Serket, and you will stop this pattern of interrogation immediately. Had I known your interest in keeping me here longer than I intended was for such impertinent purposes, I--”

“Oh come on Zahhak, it’s obviously bugging you.” Vriska finally looked up, having the foresight to hide a toothy smile. “And with it having to do with her you really don’t have anyone else to talk to, do you?”

The comment sent him careening into surprised silence, and she allowed herself a satisfied smile and a mental pat on the back. _Oh, well **done** , me! Didn’t even have to resort to tricksy mind-powers. Take that, Pyrope!_

Equius let out a sigh that was half-angry hiss. “She has been perfectly impossible to deal with all week long. First she wanted to partake in that awful FLARP game--”

“Oh I hope you didn’t let her!” Vriska drawled sarcastically. “It’s dangerous you know!”

Normally at this point he would fly into a rage about her “juvenile” use of sarcasm, but luckily for her, he was already airborne and headed for a different target. “Of course I said no! And to think of the low-bloods she wanted to play with--”

“Wait what? Who asked her to play?”

“Two of the most abject peasants to ever cling like sludge-sucking wormbeasts to the very frayed end of the hemospectrum, and one Terezi Pyrope, who might as well be.”

“…Interesting,” Vriska muttered to herself, but Equius was too worked up to notice. Chair forgotten, he had risen to his feet and begun to pace in agitation.

“And then not three days later she comes regaling me with tales of their…their flushed leanings! It’s positively depraved!”

“Depraved. Yeah. Uh-huh.” Drowning her interest in feigned indifference, Vriska set to work attaching the engine he had given her to her newest doomsday device. “I’m sure it couldn’t have been that bad Equius!”

“Not that—”

“ _Please_ don’t sweat on anything,” she interrupted, glancing up with a disgusted twitch to her eyebrow.

“Not that _bad_!” he repeated, ignoring her. A fine blue sheen had overcome most of his revealed skin, and a faint sound of cracking could be heard as he ground his already ruined teeth in fury. “Getting two days’ worth of nothing but stories of a red-blood and a yellow-blood’s romantic misadventures is _not that **bad**_?!”

“…What yellow-blood, I thought—”

“ _VRISKA DO YOU HAVE A TOWEL?_ ”

She winced and slowly rose to her feet. “Uh…yeah. Just hold your musclebeasts, sheesh.”

Though Vriska kept an unkempt stack in that very same block, she went after one from a different pile down the hall to give herself time to think. If text color was any indication—and it always was—then the red-blood Nepeta had mentioned had to be apocalypseArisen. But the other one was not her failure of a partner. No, then who…

Towel retrieved, she slowed her steps, still deep in thought. What about that hacker kid Terezi yakked about sometimes? Could he be the yellow-blood? _Interesting._ This was definitely something to be looked into.

…After Equius left. She sighed upon re-entering the room. Though his rage seemed to have calmed a little, he was sweating more than ever and stood still in a corner clutching his elbows with his freakishly powerful fingers. Vriska held the towel out to him by its corner. “Here.” Extending her arm as far as it would go, she tried to keep her face from falling into a deep grimace. A weak grin was all she could manage. “You can keep it. My gift to you. Like in return for the radiation engine. Yeah!”  
He took the towel without a word and began to wick the bluish fluid from his forehead. It stained. She felt a little sick.

“Soooooooo thanks for everything, guess you’ve gotta get back to that moirail of yours now huh? Too bad! We were having such a nice chat!” Vriska was spared the unpleasant task of shoving him towards the door of her hive; he finally managed to start walking on his own, and she followed him down the hall to the exit.

“Maybe some other time, buddy, huh? I’ll let you know if I need any more parts! Ok? Alright? Seeeeeeee youuuuuuuu!”

The door closed with a satisfied SLAM behind him, and she leaned against it, a little flushed from both the effort of dealing with her neighbor and the excitement that came from a newly-hatching plan. She had some pretty great information here. All that was left was to figure out how to use it…

\------

arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]

AG: Heeeeeeeey Scourge Sister num8er two!!!!!!!!  
GC: NUMB3R TWO? >:?  
GC: S1NC3 WH3N 4R3 W3 R4NK3D?  
GC: WH4T 1F 1 W4NT TO B3 NUMB3R ON3?? >:P  
AG: Ok yeah sure what8ver you can 8e num8er one if you w8nt.  
GC: OK4Y COOL >:]  
AG: Or may8e you can 8e num8er one half the time 8nd num8er two half the time.  
AG: That’s fair right? ::::)  
GC: Y34H OK4Y TH4T SOUNDS R34SON4BL3  
AG: Isn’t that like something your h8cker friend does?  
AG: Th8t cute little halfsies thing?  
GC: OH Y34H H3S 4LL 1NTO TH3 CUT3 L1TTL3 H4LFS13S TH1NG  
GC: WHY DO YOU 4SK? >:?  
AG: No re8son it just remind8d me.  
AG: You t8lk a8out him a lot. :::;)  
GC: 1 WOULDNT S4Y 4 LOT  
AG: Ok 8nough to m8ke me curious!  
AG: 8speci8lly 8s I m8y need 8 h8cker for my new8st project.  
GC: >:O  
GC: YOU M34N YOUR N3W DOOMSD4Y D3V1C3?  
AG: 8f course wh8t 8lse would I mean?  
GC: 1 DONT KNOW 1T JUST S33MS L1K3 WH3N YOUR3 LY1NG YOUR T3XT G3TS MOR3 4ND MOR3 OV3RRUN W1TH 31GHTS >:/  
AG: Wh8t????????  
AG: M8y8e I’m just 8xc8t8d?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  
AG: Come on T8rezi I wouldn’t lie to my f8vor8 Scourge Sister would I? D::::  
GC: W3LL NO 1 GU3SS NOT  
GC: BUT L3T TH3 COURT R3COGN1Z3 TH4T YOU ONLY H4V3 ON3 SCOURG3 S1ST3R >:P  
AG: Ok th8 court r8cognizes th8t or wh8tever 8ut you’re still my f8vor8! :::;)  
GC: OK4Y TH4TS F1N3  
AG: So c8n you put me in touch w8th him?  
GC: OK4Y SUR3 1 GU3SS >:/  
GC: 1 C4NT PROM1S3 H3LL W4NT TO T4LK TO YOU THOUGH  
GC: H3 C4N B3 K1ND OF D1FF1CULT SOM3T1M3S  
GC: H1S H4NDL3 1S TW1N4RM4G3DDONS  
AG: Just to confirm, th8t’s twinArm8geddons?  
GC: …UH  
GC: YOU KNOW SOM3T1M3S 1 F33L L1K3 TH1S TYP1NG QU1RK TH1NG 1S 4 L1TTL3 MOR3 TROUBL3 TH4N 1TS WORTH >:/  
AG: Nah it’s ok I’ve got 8t!  
AG: Th8nks Terezi!  
GC: NO PROBL3M  
GC: 1D S4Y GOOD LUCK W1TH YOUR D3V1C3 BUT 1 GU3SS TH4TS TH3 K1ND OF TH1NG 1 SHOULD HOP3 YOU DONT H4V3 GOOD LUCK W1TH >:?  
AG: H8h8! W8ll you c8n wish me good luck 8nyw8y! It’s not l8ke I’m going to use it!  
GC: OK4Y W3LL GOOD LUCK ON YOUR PROJ3CT TH3N >:]  
AG: Th8nks!  
AG: >::::D

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]

\------

Sollux wiped up the last drip of honey from the floor and shoved the final wire against the wall of his respiteblock, and then moved to the window and glanced out into the star-filled sky. With his elbow on the narrow sill and his chin resting on a closed fist, he had the perfect view of TamaT, one of the forty-eight constellations cemented into Alternian mythological culture. If he believed in that sort of nonsense, this particular one held some sort of special meaning for him. He didn’t, of course. Pretty juvenile, all things told, mapping out your life based on the connections some ancient troll made between dots in the sky that he thought was some sort of unfinished work of art. But he did rather like it in its symmetry. Instead of driving himself crazy waiting, he stared at the collection of stars, focused on where the lines went between those bright spots of light against the dark night sky. It was dipping lower and lower towards the horizon these days; in a few weeks, it would be out of sight entirely, ushering in the end of the 11th perigee.

A groan and some stomping echoed down from the ceiling of his block. Great. Just another reminder of how completely useless his lusus was and how much this 12th perigee’s eve was going to suck--

“Grrrruuuuuuuuuummmmmmmbllllle!”

“Thut the fuck _up_ already, you thtupid good for nothing cuthtodian! I _jutht_ fed you!” Sollux prepared to tear his gaze away from the scene outside his hive to go collect more honey; tonight of _all_ nights was _not_ the time for that idiot to be getting all worked up. But something caught his attention in the very corner of his red eye.

“Oh thhit, oh thhit!” Sollux cast around desperately, making certain everything was in its proper place. Oh man, his respiteblock was still a complete and utter mess. Why the hell had he invited Aradia over? What a stupid idea!! Stupid stupid dumb!

Before his lusus could start up his moaning again, the young troll heard his name being called, the distance to the ground dimming her voice. Too late to start worrying! He’d better head down and get her before she thought he forgot or something. God _damn_ it, what a stupid idea this was!

Red and blue energy prickled the air around him and slowly lifted him off his feet. He would leave from the roof, and maybe succeed in shutting his lusus up before she heard it yammering.

He reached the roof just as a message was sent to his Trollian handle. The noise indicating its arrival sounded, but he was not around to hear it, and in any case his monitor had been shut off.

 

arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AG: Heeeeeeeey Mr. H8cker Dude!  
AG: I need to 8orrow some 8f your 8mazing skills! ::::)  
AG: Are you th8re????????  
AG: No?  
AG: D8mn.  
AG: Well get 8ack to me wh8n you 8re ok?  
AG: :::;)

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

“Sollux?” Her voice grew more distinct the quieter his lusus became and the further he got from the rooftop of his hive.

“Thorry I kept you waiting,” he called, trying hard to swallow his anxiety. In the glow of the rising moons she looked radiant, large eyes wide with the confusion that came with unknown surroundings. “It, uh… It wathn’t too hard to get here, I hope.”

“I managed.” She answered him with a smile, but it was weary. His heart felt as if it wanted to crush him.

“Thorry,” he repeated, floating downward until he was near her. It was hard to look at her, what with the light of the moons reflecting pink and green from her eyes and off her hair and especially with the blinding blaze of his guilt. “I thould have gone to pick you up. Or thecured thome other way to get you here. Or--”

“Sollux?” The smile was gone from her face. She stared up at him, floating a few inches above the surface of the planet, and frowned almost deep enough to ground him.

“What?” he muttered miserably.

“Shut up.”

“Ok.”

Aradia took a step closer to him, and another when he backed off in response, and tried to hold his gaze. “It wasn’t any trouble. And even if it was, it would have been worth it. Ok?”  
He glanced briefly at her, then away again, feeling his cheeks burn yellow.

“Ok thure whatever.”

“You’re doing that thing again.”

He risked a glance at her. With her lips pursed and her arms folded, she looked ready to punch him--or worse, walk away. But she merely sighed, loosened her arms, and moved forward to touch his shoulder gently. “I can’t be mad at you, you’re doing that enough for the both of us. But I’m asking you to stop. I was ok coming all the way here to see you. And I would do it again.”

“Aradia…”

“So let’s go up, huh?”

Sollux froze. Admittedly, this entire situation hadn’t been thought through all the way, but the issue with this part in particular suddenly dawned on him. He could ask her to climb up all those stairs to the top of his communal hivestem, where he lived, or he could merely take her up with him--but that would mean…that would mean…

_Oh my GOD you are such a wuuuuuuuuss!_

“What?”

Aradia blinked. “I said we should go up. Is that ok?”

Sollux’s heart was pounding, and suddenly it was not due to the realization that he was going to have to get very close to the girl for whom he had recently come to understand he had acquired some sort of flushed feelings. The voices had never been that direct, that _distinct_ , before. And they’d never sounded like _that_. What was--

“Sollux…? What’s wrong?”

He shook his head a little, then grinned at her. “Nothing’th wrong. You ready to go?”

“I—yes?” Sollux’s personality could certainly change quickly. But then, that was one of the things Aradia found utterly fascinating about him.

It was definitely a shift, when he took her smoothly around the waist and began to take her off the ground with him. But she didn’t have time to be nervous or to question it; the feeling of flying overcame any fear, and her eyes widened to look down and take in the way the planet grew small and far away below them. By the time they got up to his hive, he was back to his usual shy self, but, she felt, she had seen a side of him he rarely showed to anyone else.

 

“Oh man. Toooooooo easy Sollux Captor!” Vriska sat back in her chair, grinning and breathless with her achievement. For a mind so supposedly brilliant, he offered little challenge. She would have to try again later to make sure this wasn’t just a fluke, but she was pretty sure that she would be able to make use of him if she needed to. And surely an opportunity would eventually present itself. One always did.

\------

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: s0llux guess what i f0und!  
AA: s0llux?  
AA: are y0u there?  
TA: yeah 2orry.  
TA: anyway ii dont know ii can never gue22 when you a2k me two gue22.  
TA: ii mean ii could but that would be cheatiing.  
AA: haha yeah it w0uld be!  
AA: s0 d0nt d0 it!  
TA: ok ii promii2e ii wont.  
TA: but then ii have no iidea what you found.  
TA: 2o tell me.  
AA: 0k fine mr grumpypants wh0 d0esnt like t0 play games!!  
AA: 0_0  
TA: are you angry wiith me?  
AA: N0!!  
AA: i was just kidding  
AA: anyway the thing that i f0und  
AA: was b0nes  
AA: in my excavati0n site  
AA: like a wh0le skelet0n!  
AA: like s0mething had been buried there  
AA: isnt that weird?  
TA: whoa yeah that ii2 pretty weiird.  
TA: what2 iit a 2keleton of?  
AA: im n0t sure actually  
AA: here take a l00k  
\-- apocalypseArisen [AA] sent twinArmageddons [TA] the file “weirdb0nes.jpg” --  
AA: what d0 y0u make 0f it  
TA: hmm hard two 2ay wiithout 2eeiing iit iin per2on.  
TA: the piicture qualiity ii2 kiind of crappy 2orry.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: i kn0w it is but thats the best i c0uld d0  
TA: iit2 fiine but ii gue22 ii cant really help deciipher iit.  
AA: with just the picture y0u mean?  
TA: yeah.  
AA: well why d0nt y0u c0me 0ver and take a l00k at it  
AA: if y0ure n0t t00 busy that is  
AA: …s0llux?  
TA: wow um.  
TA: iid be happy two iif you know la2t tiime wa2nt two awkward for you or anythiing.  
AA: it was t0tally 0k!  
AA: ive 0nly t0ld y0u that like a milli0n times since then!  
TA: eheheh yeah ii know.  
AA: d0nt y0u dare ap0l0gize again  
AA: l00k s0llux i enj0y spending time with y0u  
AA: even if y0u think y0ure awkward  
AA: maybe y0u are a little but thats 0ne 0f the things i like ab0ut y0u!  
AA: s0 d0 me and y0urself a fav0r and st0p w0rrying ab0ut it  
AA: 0_0  
TA: …  
AA: what  
TA: ii dont know iit 2ounded liike you really meant that.  
AA: 0f c0urse i meant it!  
TA: well.  
AA: well what!  
TA: well ok iif you want me two look at iit.  
TA: iit2 better than 2iittiing here 2tariing at thii2 2hiitty piicture.  
AA: is it really that bad  
TA: no ii wa2 ju2t jokiing.  
AA: 0_0  
TA: iill be there iin a 2econd.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

AA: wait s0llux  
AA: i didnt mean immediately  
AA: 0_0  
AA: 0h shit

\------

Aradia had never cleaned so fast before in her life. FLARP books were shoved into a pile in a corner, with a collection of six red dice scattered on top; her excavation and adventuring tools were thrown into another corner, now spattered with mud since she’d had little time to clean them off. She herself had been given none of the same attention. Too busy ensuring her respiteblock was presentable, she had failed to remember the state of her own person, and by the time she glanced out the window and noticed the distant glow of the psionic on his way to her hive, she had no time to fill up her ablution trap. She changed hastily, but dirt still sat beneath her fingernails and clung tenaciously in her long hair. Her lusus attempted to lick off what she could of the dirt smeared on Aradia’s face, but in the end, the combination of that and the towel she applied were barely enough to remove the worst of the grime on her person.

Finally, she had to accept that this was the best she could do. She hurried out the front door to her modest hive just in time to watch him descend from the sky in flashes of blue and red that took turns illuminating her form against the darkness of the starlit night. His glasses had been removed, presumably to better see where he was going. Her expression shifted from delight at his presence to confused surprise as she realized that his eyes were somehow exactly the same colors as his lenses.

As he drifted to the ground, he gave himself a moment to return the shades to his face, and she gave herself the same time to school her emotions back into something resembling calmness.

“I wasn’t expecting you so soon!” she said, hurrying over to him, as a way to explain her appearance.

He shrugged a little, seeming more at ease than he had been the last time they met face to face. “You theemed exthited about the boneth tho I wanted to come thee them ath thoon ath pothible.”

Red tinting her cheeks briefly, Aradia smiled a little and nodded, inclining her head towards one of the holes in the earth outside her hive. “Over here, then.”

He followed her on foot now to the location of her discovery. The pit was deep, and a crude ladder made of thin pieces of wood and sturdy vines had been slung against the side for her use in reaching the bottom. She prepared to descend, but he shook his head, instead holding out an arm for her. “I can take uth down,” he promised, and the sureness of his voice and in the way he stood was maddening and intriguing both in contrast to how he usually was. Their contact when she stepped into his arms caused her to blush this time instead of him; her heart pounded in her throat as they descended, and even as she broke away to go clear the tarp from her discovery.

_Oh wow look at you! Aren’t we Mr. Confident today?_

“Thut up,” Sollux muttered, face pinching in distaste as Aradia was distracted. The new, more insistent voice was back, and he already had a dislike for it that exceeded his usual annoyance. This one had the gall to be both loud and demanding, and he would have liked nothing more than to be able to drown it out. But since it had surfaced it had been nothing but pestering, wheedling, and intrusive, and it wouldn’t leave him alone for a span of more than a few hours at a time.

_No way! I’m seriously impressed here! Don’t you think she is too? Look how proud she is of her stupid bones and how much your opinion of them means to her! Soooooooo cute!_

Sollux decided to ignore it. Even as it went on to insist that he wouldn’t be able to for long, he erased all evidence of the voice from his expression and stood by Aradia’s side, looking down at the skeleton she had unearthed.

“Wow. Thith thertainly ithn’t a troll, that’th for thure.”

“That’s what I thought, too. But it’s no wild animal I’ve ever seen before. It doesn’t look familiar at all?” Aradia looked up to him, curious, expectant. “I figured if anyone knew what it might be, it would be you.”

_Fuuuuuuuuck Captor she’s basically in scarlet throes for you! Damned if I know why she thinks so highly of you!_

Sollux had had enough of this musclebeast shit. He wasn’t going to let that stupid voice convince him of anything or convince him to do anything, not today. Not ever again, he vowed to himself.

_Oh yeah good luck with that!_

It was hard, but he kept his expression neutral as he perused the find. “Maybe if you unearth it,” he suggested, “and lay out the boneth the way they thould go, and take a better picthure, I can write a program to help vithualize what it might have looked like, and then we can find out what it might be bathed on that.”

Her eyes widened at him as if he had just explained to her in simple terms how the universe had come into being. “Sollux, that’s brilliant! I can’t believe I never thought of that!”

_Nice job Mr. Smooth Guy! I might be getting all hot and bothered under the collar here myself!_

“Eheheh,” he chuckled, managing to display only the briefest of blushes. He hid a clenched fist behind his back. “You jutht got tho exthited you couldn’t think thtraight about how to analythe the thituathion.”

“You’re right, I guess. Wow, I can’t wait to finish digging this up now and get to work on it!”  
As he watched her, he couldn’t help but let some of her excitement affect him. Seeing her this happy…well, he rarely experienced much more than a quiet sense of contentment at anything before his usual self-loathing overrode him, but for some reason her achievement--her _happiness_ \--more than anything he had ever managed to do, was making _him_ happier than he could ever remember being.

“Aradia…”

“Yes, Sollux?” It was hard to look at him, what with the light of the moons reflecting pink and green off his shades and his hair and especially with the deafening way his intense stare at her was making her heart pound.

As he leaned in slowly, he was sure she could hear his own pulse jamming through veins and arteries like a rushing yellow river, but he didn’t realize it would only be drowned out by her own vital beat. Both felt at once mobile and frozen, stuck on the single track that brought them painfully slowly together, until they were close enough to--

_Yes! You smooth operator! Kiss her! Go ahead, do it!_

Aradia’s eyes were closed, and anyway she wouldn’t be able to see the way his eyes narrowed in sudden fury behind his dark lenses.

 _Fuck you!_ he thought back, enraged. _Thtop telling me what to do!!_

_No way you’re too much fun! Anyway you’re keeping your lady waiting! Come on do it! DOOOOOOOO IIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!_

_NO!!_

A brief jolt of energy escaped Sollux before he could reign it in, and in his quick thinking he pulled away just enough to keep it from reaching Aradia. Before she could look up at him with eyes confused and probably hurt, he scooped her into a hug and pressed her forehead against his chest.

_Oh my god so lame! You basically just ruined any chance you ever had with her!_

_Get out of my head! Leave me alone!_

_Fine! But only because you’re being soooooooo boring!_

_I don’t care what you think about me!_

_Hahahahahahahaha! But you will! Anyway I’ll leave you alone this time but I’ll be back! Sayonara, Captor!_

“Sollux…”

“I thould probably get going,” he murmured into Aradia’s hair, trying not to feel miserable. “I forgot to feed my luthuth before I left.”

They broke apart, and neither could look at the other.

“Ok, yes, you should probably do that.”

“Yeah, well… Let me know when you’ve got thith unearthed. I’ll bring you thomething to take better picthureth with later.”

“Ok, thanks…”

“Tho…”

“I’ll. Talk to you on Trollian, then?”

“Yeah ok thure.”

“Ok. …Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Aradia saw the bi-colored energy pick up around Sollux’s body and lift him off the ground. Her heartbeat feeling hollower now in her chest, she finally looked up soon enough to watch him float away from her, back to his own hivestem. He only glanced back once, but by then he was too far away to see the disappointed frown she made with trembling lips.

 

Vriska was too gleeful to care whether or not Equius could hear her laughing from across the chasm between their hives. Oh, that had been just _too much fun_! Sure he’d been able to ignore her command, but that had just made it all the better! Now she knew when he’d listen to her and when he wouldn’t, and thanks to her abilities she knew more about Sollux Captor than she was sure he’d ever wish for her to know. Her run of good luck just never seemed to end!

From her little advantage she knew that her need of this new information would be coming around soon enough. In the meantime, Aradia would certainly be distracted come their next campaign, which would make for an interesting game for once. She couldn’t wait.

\------

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA]

CA: hey kan  
CA: hey  
CA: kan are you there  
GA: Why Is It You Always Assume That I Am Not Present Or That I Am Ignoring You When I Fail To Answer Within Moments Of Your Pestering  
CA: wwoww fuck sorry  
CA: im a little agitated here is all  
CA: but nevvermind if you arent up to listenin thats fine  
CA: forget it  
GA: I Apologize For Making Assumptions  
GA: Pray Tell Why You Are So Agitated  
CA: its your fuckin moirail  
GA: Oh  
GA: Has She Overstepped Some Caliginous Boundary I Should Be Made Aware Of  
GA: ?  
CA: if by that you mean shes pretty much dumpin me for some lowwblood chump then yeah id say shes been ovversteppin some boundaries real hard  
GA: Wait  
GA: What  
CA: kar just told me  
CA: she just ran some orangeblood shes been flarpin wwith off a cliff or somethin  
CA: apparently shes been hittin him pretty damn hard since they started playin  
CA: this is musclebeast shit kan she cant do this to me  
CA: howw the fucks a assblood like that gonna make a better kismesis than me  
CA: you got to do somethin about her kan im beggin you  
GA: Hold On

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]

GA: Vriska  
GA: What Are You Doing  
GA: Answer Me  
GA: Eridan Just Informed Me Of Your Flarp Escapade  
AG: Wh8t?  
GA: With A Certain Boy  
GA: And A Certain Cliff  
GA: Would You Care To Explain  
AG: I’m a l8ttle 8usy.  
GA: I Imagine That Is Only To Be Expected  
GA: I Am Certain His Friends Are More Than A Little Angry With You  
AG: Th8t sounds a8out right.  
GA: Do You Feel Any Remorse Over This At All  
AG: Wow you know wh8t Mary8m 8s much 8s I find your m8ddlesome w8ys utterly r8lieving, l8ke a mess8ge from god 8t the time in my l8fe wh8n I 8m most morally vulnera8le,  
AG: 8nd 8s much as I would like to sit here and 8llow you to nurse 8ll my emotion8l wounds for hours and hours on 8nd,  
AG: This m8y 8e 8n utt8r shock to you 8ut  
AG: I’m a l8ttle 8usy!!!!!!!!  
AG: So leave me 8lone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

arachnidsGrip [AG] blocked grimAuxiliatrix [GA]

GA: Vriska  
GA: Dont Do That  
GA: Vriska  
GA: !

 

3  
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: hey s0llux?  
AA: …s0llux?  
AA: i guess y0ure busy  
AA: d0 y0u think y0u c0uld let me kn0w when y0ure n0t?  
AA: i need t0 talk t0 y0u

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: s0llux please  
AA: i really need t0 talk t0 y0u  
AA: its n0t ab0ut the 0ther day  
AA: we can f0rget that even happened if y0u want  
AA: i just  
AA: s0mething happened t0 tavr0s  
AA: s0llux please i just need t0 talk t0 s0me0ne  
AA: S0LLUX  
AA: …  
AA: 0k fine

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

\------

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: hell0  
AA: s0llux c0me 0n  
AA: this is getting ridicul0us  
AA: im w0rried ab0ut y0u  
AA: please s0llux i d0nt need any0ne else t0 w0rry ab0ut  
AA: i need y0ur advice  
AA: i need y0u t0 tell me im w0rrying 0ver n0thing and that everythings g0ing t0 be 0k  
AA: s0llux  
AA: what did i d0  
AA: why w0nt y0u talk t0 me  
AA: i d0nt understand  
AA: please answer me  
AA: please

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

\------

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: …  
AA: just tell me what i did wr0ng  
AA: im s0rry  
AA: s0llux i d0nt expect anything 0f y0u  
AA: all i really wanted was f0r y0u t0 be happy  
AA: i d0nt kn0w what i did t0 make y0u n0t want t0 talk t0 me  
AA: but whatever it was im s0rry  
AA: please just say s0mething  
AA: my best friend just g0t thr0wn 0ff a cliff by s0me psych0tic bitch and n0w this  
AA: i d0nt kn0w what t0 d0  
AA: s0llux…

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

\------

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: this is the last time im g0ing t0 c0ntact y0u  
AA: after this ill give up  
AA: i just wanted t0 tell y0u that  
AA: i guess  
AA: i was never angry at y0u  
AA: i was never disapp0inted with y0u  
AA: i may have been frustrated but that happens d0esnt it  
AA: in the end i was 0k with whatever y0u wanted t0 d0  
AA: except this  
AA: this isnt fair s0llux  
AA: just tell me what i did t0 make you angry  
AA: 0r upset  
AA: 0r whatever reas0n y0ure ign0ring me  
AA: just s0 i can get 0n with my life i guess  
AA: surely y0u can d0 that much f0r me  
AA: cant y0u?  
AA: …  
AA: 0k i cant just keep blabbering here  
AA: h0ping y0ull answer  
AA: because the l0nger i talk the m0re chance i have that y0ull resp0nd  
AA: and this w0nt be the last time i ever talk t0 y0u  
AA: 0k i get it  
AA: g00dbye i guess

apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

TA: aradiia.  
TA: iim not angry at you.  
TA: iim 2orry ii diidnt re2pond.  
TA: ii cant apologiize enough.  
TA: ii thought ii could keep thii2 up but 2eeiing you hurt ii2 two hard.  
TA: whiich wa2 what ii wa2 tryiing two avoiid but iit look2 liike no matter what iit2 goiing two happen.  
TA: hey are you there?  
AA: s0llux…  
TA: ok good.  
TA: lii2ten ii have two make thii2 2hort.  
AA: i d0nt understand  
TA: ii know.  
TA: ii dont entiirely under2tand eiither but the voiice2 dont liie.  
TA: theyve been gettiing louder.  
TA: and 2tronger.  
TA: iim afraiid they may have 2ome 2ort of control over me now and they may make me do thiing2 ii dont want two do.  
AA: what d0 y0u mean  
AA: theyve been getting l0uder and str0nger f0r me t00  
AA: ever since i first met y0u  
AA: but h0w can they p0ssibly c0ntr0l y0u  
AA: s0llux what is this all ab0ut  
TA: iim tryiing two explaiin.  
TA: theyre 2ayiing iim goiing two kiill you.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: what  
TA: ye2 lately that2 all that2 been clear.  
TA: over and over iin2ii2tiing that ii have two.  
AA: well d0nt listen t0 them!  
TA: you know iit2 not that ea2y!  
TA: and iit doe2nt work that way.  
TA: theyre u2ually really ambiiguou2 but when theyre clear theyre clear for a rea2on.  
TA: thii2 ii2 2eriiou2 aradiia the probabiiliity that ii could kiill you ii2 huge if theyre thii2 clear about iit.  
AA: but h0w  
AA: why?!  
TA: II DONT KNOW!  
TA: that2 the problem ii dont know 2o thii2 ii2 the only way two avoiid iit.  
TA: after thii2 conver2atiion we cant talk two each other anymore.  
TA: we cant 2ee each other anymore.  
TA: that2 the only way youll 2tay 2afe.  
AA: s0llux  
AA: y0ure being stupid 0_0  
TA: THII2 II2NT JU2T ME HATIING MY2ELF HERE ARADIIA thii2 ii2 2eriiou2 come on!  
TA: why cant you 2ee thii2?!  
AA: because its n0nsense!  
AA: if the v0ices are that p0werful then y0u av0iding me isnt g0ing t0 st0p them  
AA: if theyre just telling the future then it will happen anyway  
AA: if theyre the 0nes making y0u d0 it then theyll make sure it happens  
AA: i refuse t0 spend h0wever l0ng i have left dreading my death and n0t even being able t0 see y0u in the meantime  
AA: s0 screw the v0ices and screw fate and screw this av0iding each 0ther business  
AA: if y0u d0nt get over here right n0w s0 i can see y0u im c0ming t0 find y0u  
AA: 0_0  
AA: s0 make y0ur decisi0n  
TA: …fuck.  
TA: ok ju2t chiill out iill be riight there.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

\------

Aradia was a mess, but Sollux couldn’t see that at first. By the time he came within range, without even planting his feet on the ground, she had already plowed into him, knocking him backwards into one of her dig sites. His heart nearly exploded with the terror of the unexpected fall before he came to his senses and suspended their bodies in the air moments before impact.

“Aradia!”

From her position on top of him, Aradia chanced a glance up at him. Even with his shades obscuring half his face he looked angry. Scared, and angry.

“You can thay to thcrew the fateth all you want, but no way are you going to make their predicthion happen fathter! Cut it out!”

“Sorry,” she responded--because he sounded the way he did, not because she was.

He sighed shallowly, too out of breath for anything else, and shook his head, keeping a tight grip on her as he righted them back onto their feet on ground level. When he let her go, she merely gripped him tighter, defiantly. Wary of her horns, he reached up and stroked her hair hesitantly and let her cry against his shoulder.

“I don’t even care if you’re angry with me,” she gasped between sobs. “It’s better to see you like this than not at all.”

“I’m not angry with you,” he told her, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m jutht angry.” But he did his best to quell it anyway.

Time passed. Sollux had no idea how much the change in how clearly he could see had to do with his eyes adjusting to the low light and how much it had to do with the sun getting closer to the horizon. Eventually, her sobs slowed, grew further apart, and faded away, and soon the tenseness in her shoulders also diminished.

“How ith he?” he eventually asked.

She looked up at him, confused.

“Tavroth. Have you theen him?”

She shook her head, misery overcoming her expression once more. “It’s not an easy walk to get there. It’s shorter than to your hivestem, but there’s a really deep, wide river in the way, and I can’t--”

Stepping back, Sollux held out an arm to her. “Let’th go.”

“…Now?”

“How long hath it been thinthe it happened?”

“A couple hours, but--”

“Then we’d better hurry. Who knowth what could have happened to him between then and now?”

Aradia licked her lips nervously but nodded swiftly and stepped back into his arms. Their FLARP game may have ended, and with it any danger from the game-spawned monsters, but plenty of real-life dangers awaited an injured young troll with no way to defend himself. Holding her tight, Sollux focused on getting them off the ground and on following her directions to Tavros’s hive. He held his breath as they crossed the river, but she remained securely in his arms.

“There’s his hive!” she exclaimed finally, pointing as the top of a windmill appeared over a large hill in the distance.

“Thould we check that firtht?”

“…No,” she decided, thinking quickly. “We need to find that cliff, I have a feeling he’s probably still…”

Sollux floated around it and discovered that finding the location of Tavros’s incident would not prove too difficult; it lay just beyond the other troll’s modest hive, and from here it looked pretty steep.

Sollux set Aradia down near the edge of the cliff and peered over, spying a small green figure down below and an even smaller white speck that was probably his lusus. Lines in the green sand by the beach marked where the tiny creature had probably attempted to drag him away from the water’s edge, but it obviously hadn’t gotten very far, and it had little chance of lifting the injured troll up this huge cliff.

“Thtay here,” he told Aradia, pointing to the ground where they stood, “pleathe.” The desperation in his voice more than his words kept her feet planted as she watched him slowly descend the height of the cliff until she lost sight of him.

As Sollux went further down, Tavros’s form became more and more distinct, and the white speck that was his lusus began flapping around in a more agitated manner. It approached him, and he swiped at it to get it to leave him alone. “I’m trying to help him, thtupid, buthhh off!”

It seemed to understand him without taking offense to the slur and calmed down, following him as he landed beside Tavros’s prone form. “Great, at leatht yourth ith thmarter than mine,” he muttered, carefully rolling the motionless troll’s body into a more natural position. Beneath the green cap his eyes fluttered open, looking panicked at the unfamiliar figure next to him.

“Umm,” he started hesitantly, words coming thickly from his mouth as if he’d hit his head much too hard upon landing. “You can, uh…take my stuff if you want. But. I don’t have much. And…it would be nice, if you didn’t hurt me…

“Because,” he continued, struggling to keep his eyes open, “there’s not much left to hurt…either…”

Under any other circumstances, Sollux would have snorted out of mirth at the fact that Tavros apparently spoke exactly as he typed. But now was not the time.

“Tavroth, it’th me, tA. Aradia and I are going to bring you back to your hive, ok?”

“Oh. Sollux. She’s…told me a lot. About you. …Ok.”

Frowning, Sollux took stock of the other troll, the way his legs sat uselessly upon the rocky sand. He scooped Tavros up carefully, sure the damage to his lower half was irreversible but not wishing to cause further injury to the rest of him. To his left, the small winged lusus buzzed excitedly around his head.

“Tinkerbull, it’s…ok, I’m in good hands now…I think… And. Look, I think I’m about to. Fly.”

Sollux turned a disturbed expression away from Tavros and focused on the edge of the cliff high above them as they rose up slowly into the air. “Aradia, thtep back!” he called, seeing her eyes peering out over the ledge.

She had scrambled a couple yards back by the time he emerged from down below, the hurt troll in his arms struggling with all his might to stay conscious while he was carried through the air.

“Can you get hith door open?”

Together, they got Tavros inside his hive and onto the floor, troll respiteblocks lacking any more suitable piece of furniture onto which he could be deposited. His friends knelt beside him, prodding up and down his legs and asking if he could feel it, and each time he hesitated they were briefly hopeful, but the answer was always, eventually, no.

“I’m…not getting better. …Am I?”

Sollux and Aradia glanced at each other, various shades of frowns written on their faces.

“I don’t think tho,” Sollux finally said, standing up. While he paced the length of the block, sometimes pausing to take stock of what was contained within, Aradia scooted closer and took Tavros’s hand.

“Tavros, I’m so sorry… I never meant for this to happen. I don’t know what it was, while you were messaging me there was this guy standing there and just…I couldn’t move, he was just so…”

“Aradia, it’s…ok, it wasn’t your fault. And. I know that…if you hadn’t been distracted, that…you would have. Saved me. Probably. But that was just…another part of her plan I think. And. I guess it worked.”

Tears welled back up in her eyes as she listened to him stumble through his words, as she squeezed his hand and felt only the briefest of touches back.

“Does it hurt?” she said quietly.

“At first it didn’t, it was…just invisible. But. Now it is, very, very…painful. The parts that I can feel. Anyway.”

She choked back another sob. “Sollux, isn’t there any way to fix him?”

He stopped to glance over his shoulder at the two of them, Aradia looking back at him expectantly while Tavros simply lied still, lacking the strength even to be hopeful.

“That’th not really my area of exthpertithe,” he answered, frowning. “I could maybe think of a way to make it eathier for him to get around, but…”

“You could…do that. Maybe?”

Maybe he had enough strength left to be fed hope, if not make it himself. For some reason, though, it just made Sollux’s chest feel heavy with the weight of that responsibility.

“Maybe,” was all he would promise.

“At least now you’re out of immediate danger,” Aradia put in, trying to feed on some of that hope herself. “As long as we keep this on the down-low no one has any reason to think anything out of the ordinary happened, and you won’t…”

She couldn’t finish that thought out loud. Even without his powers, Sollux knew her worry was over him being culled. He wondered if Tavros understood the danger as well as he did.

“For now you’ll jutht have to retht and try to recover your thtrength,” he interjected, not entirely wanting to know the answer.

“Yes, I…think I will have plenty of time. To do that.”

Aradia shuddered and stood. “Where’s your husktop? I’ll bring it over so we can be in touch and you can let me know how you’re holding up.”

He directed her hesitantly, and soon the device was within reach and Aradia had gathered herself.

“It’th getting late,” Sollux eventually reminded her, giving her a meaningful glance. “And we both need to get back.”

“…Yes. Tavros.”

The injured troll blinked wearily from where he lay on the floor. “Umm. Yeah?”

He could barely summon the energy to appear surprised when she returned to the floor to hug him tightly. “I’ll make this up to you somehow,” she murmured into his ear. “I promise. I’ll talk to Terezi and if…if she’ll help me, great. If not, I’ll do it myself. But that psycho won’t get away with this.”

“That’s…nice, Aradia, but I think…that may not be necessary, and also it might…be a little danger--”

“Tavros, you’re too nice for your own good.” She was crying again: sorrowful, rusty tears running in streams down her cheeks. “Maybe you can forgive her, somehow, I don’t know. But I can’t. And I won’t.”

She stood before he could muster up a further protest and turned back to Sollux. “We can go now.”

“You thure?”

“Yeah.”

Once more he held out his arm for her, and once more she stepped into his hold, wiping the tears from her face with a sleeve.

“Feel better, Tavros!”

“I’ll be in touch with you when I make thome progreth.”

“Ok, ah. Hmm. Goodbye. Then.”

There was a crackle of blue and a spattering of red, and they were off the ground again, heading back the way they came. Sollux knew the way now, and their conversation as they returned consisted of the tightness with which they held each other.

He delivered Aradia safely back to her hive, but before she would let him leave, she made him make her a promise.

“Talk to me tomorrow,” she said. “And the next day. And the day after that. And every day after that, until it happens. I don’t want there to be a day that goes by anymore that we don’t talk, or see each other.”

To this request he couldn’t say no. But to say yes was too hard, and to say goodbye was harder still, so he merely leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead, and with a meaningful look that was lost behind his shades he rose up into the air and drifted away.

Aradia had little time to watch him go, she knew, but still she followed the shape of him as it shrank smaller and smaller into the distance before heading inside. She had a lot to do before sleep could be allowed to claim her.

\------

It had been gradual at first, but ever since Aradia had begun speaking with Sollux about the voices they both heard, they had been gradually growing stronger in her own head as well, like a dream that, once acknowledged, came back night after night, each vision more detailed than the last. But when the shiny white head of that strange figure had appeared to her, they had grown exponentially worse, until it was sometimes difficult at times to parse what were her thoughts and what were their wishes.

Though at other times, those two were not so different.

At first, after speaking with Terezi, she thought that maybe the other was right and she should just leave this revenge business to her more skilled hands. After all, Terezi was usually right about things like this. Almost always.

Except, a voice reminded her, about Vriska in the first place.

And that had just opened the floodgates for others to speak, until she knew all about them and how they had died in the jaws of a monstrous lusus, fed to it by a monstrous troll girl. The more she listened, the angrier she got, and the easier it was to ignore Terezi’s advice.

_Make her pay. Make her pay. Make her pay._

The spirits were more than willing to mobilize and haunt the girl who’d killed them, and for a while Aradia felt as if justice had been served.

But as she thought about it--about these devoured trolls, about Tavros--it still didn’t feel like quite enough.

 

4  
 _Hey Captor!_

“Oh fuck thith!” Sollux leaned back in his chair, drawing his eyes away from his screen. That voice was back. “I have thit to do, leave me alone!”

_I’ll say you have “thit” to do, didn’t you promise your little girlfriend you’d talk to her every day until you killed her?_

“Day’th not over, numnutth! And in cathe you were wondering I’m not going to not do it jutht becauthe you reminded me! Tho fuck off!”

_Ooooooooh, thomeone’th grumpy today!_

“Wow, real mature, imitating me like that. How old are you, two thweepth?”

_Hahahahahahahaha!_

“And the’th not…my girlfriend, you thaw to that!”

_Hey, don’t blame your failures and complete lack of social skills on me Captor! I was just trying to help you, you’re the one who was too much of a wimp to go along with it!_

“I didn’t go along with it becauthe I’ve had enough of you in my head! Now get ou--”

A deep grumble from above interrupted him, and it resounded in his head. “Thit! Not now!”

But the voice, at least for now, had fallen silent. Already agitated, Sollux stood up and stomped over to his apiculture networks to collect some honey. In his distress, his harvesting was sloppy, careless. He had a lot to do tonight; that help for Tavros wasn’t just going to design itself, and in order to uphold the promise he had made, he needed to contact Aradia before the lunar cycle was over. She had been eerily quiet all night. And now he had to feed his lusus. He’d never resented the responsibility more.

The grumble resounded again. Connected like this to him as she was, Vriska heard it, too, and it echoed hollowly within her psyche, mingling with the cries of the dead Aradia had sent after her. Some of that fear returned with the swell of noises and screams trapped within her head, but her tears had dried up when her concentration had shifted onto him. Gathering herself, she hung back, waiting, riding just behind his eyes--seeing what he saw. When he began collecting some yellow substance, she forced herself deeper into his mind to find out what it was, what it would do. He was too busy being frustrated and angry and upset to feel it, which was just perfect.

…Oh god, _everything_ was just perfect.

Rather than calm down at Sollux’s approach as he ascended to the roof, the Bicyclops only seemed to grow more agitated, his grumbling gaining volume and weight, until Sollux was sure the vibrations would throw him from the roof if he’d been standing on it. His lusus raged at him, and he raged right back, shouting insults that half the time he’d find completely embarrassing. All the while, he stomped closer, brandishing the jar of honey like a weapon. “Thut the fuck up, you thtupid, mind-numbed wathte of thpace! All fucking night long it’th nothing but your fucking grumbling! Thomeday I’m jutht going to thtop feeding you, you utheleth piethe of thit, then you’ll thee what hunger feelth like--”

_Oh yeah! Yeah! You just try and stop feeding that thing, see if you can handle the **headache**!_

Sollux stopped. The voice sounded…angry. That was new.

_Good thing you aren’t made of that honey shit, or maybe it would get so hungry it would try eating **you**!_

The fury gathered in his head like storm clouds, roiling the more they grew in weight and darkness. It paralyzed him, a toxin, keeping him a foot or so away from his lusus. The Bicyclops kept raging, but in comparison to the maelstrom in his head, he barely noticed it.

_God, you don’t have any idea how easy you have it do you Captor?! Maybe you should find out!_

Sollux moved his hand, the one with the jar in it, closer to his mouth. There was something he was forgetting about this stuff, lost in the whirl of anger and voices and grumbling and shaking. Some sort of warning. But it probably didn’t matter. The urge to do this, to tilt the lip of the jar to his own mouth, was too strong.

The mind honey was a rich, viscous amber substance, and he found it agonizing the way it took so long to slip down the side of the jar. Crossing bifurcated eyes, he watched it slowly fall from the bottom of the jar towards him, until it slid out of his vision and into his mouth.

He had never tasted anything like it before. It was sweet, sickeningly so, and it burned in a way that was almost pleasant all the way down his protein chute. Even so, until then it was just like any other food.

Then it stopped obeying the laws of gravity and troll physiology alike. It _turned_ , squirming wildly upwards past his mouth, and seemed to slam into his brain with a force not unlike that with which his lusus was stomping on the roof. And it _buzzed_ , rattling him, stealing away any control of his consciousness he may have had left. His brain, his head, his entire body felt like it would never be still again. His lusus continued to grumble at him, but he took off into the night, as if the farther away from his hive he flew, the quieter the buzzing would get.

It never left him. There may have been words in his head, and they may have given him directions, but over the noise he didn’t hear them. He could only follow them subconsciously as they led him towards a place that may have been familiar, if he were in a position to recall anything at all.

When he got to a certain location, just outside the lawnring of some structure sitting squat in the distance surrounded by odd, irregularly-sized holes, he stopped, as ordered, and waited for further instructions. The buzzing was getting worse, straying to his eyes, and as he swayed back and forth in the air for the need of some sort of motion, he removed his shades. It was making his eyes itchy, but he was on orders not to relieve himself of that feeling yet. The wait was agonizing.

But it was a brief delay, nothing more. Eventually he was allowed to move on, and he floated forward again, towards that small structure. A figure had emerged from an opening in it and was staring up at him, transfixed. She smiled, then frowned, at the image of him suspended in the air above her, shades in one hand and empty jar in the other, with yellow smeared all over his mouth, but he could not make out any part of her clearly. The buzzing blurred his vision, energy beginning to stream uncontrollably from his eyes like tears.

 

_“And what’s that?” she asked, nodding to the thick liquid leaking from his network.  
Sollux’s lips twitched into a frown. “Mind honey. It’th what I feed my luthuth.”  
She tilted her head at it curiously, then reached out as if to touch it. “What does it--”  
“No!” He reached up and slapped her hand away urgently, then backed up a step when she turned a shocked face towards him. “You muthn’t.”  
“You mean you haven’t ever…? Just a taste?”  
“Not under any thircumthtantheth.”_

 

He had refused to tell her why, or what would happen, or even if he himself knew, but that no longer mattered. Aradia felt as suspended as he looked, staring at her from up there, and if only he had willed her to move she could have obeyed. But he looked down at her with a blank, unrecognizing expression, and she was too terrified to budge.

Was this it…?

“Sollux…” she whispered, voice tangled up in her tight, petrified throat. Her mind made one last connection, a more instinctual understanding of the situation: Tavros and the cliff; the voices; Sollux’s avoidance; Vriska’s last message to her; Terezi’s warning.

Oh god, this was it.

The energy leaking from his eyes built in strength, too fast for her mind to process it, and before she could even think to dodge it was too late. He released it, red and blue light joining together in a brilliant beam, hitting her, tearing at her clothing, her hair and horns and flesh. It ripped her, pulling at skin and muscle and bone and lungs and other parts. It vaporized all that in an instant, until all that remained was a core of emotion, of anger and fury and retaliation, for the legs she had taken from Tavros and the free will she had taken from Sollux and the life she had taken from her.

And then that core, too, was gone. Was she angry? She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t even remember what that felt like. She was dead, but the voices assuaged her that that was supposed to happen, that that was all part of the plan all along. Everything was going according to plan, so why be angry? Exactly. Everything was fine, completely ok.

Very close by, she could hear a sound like an animal in pain, rising into a wordless cry as if it meant to pierce the very stars in the sky, all at once, but missed every one. She listened to it for a while, but it kept going, growing to a height of anguish and then lingering on forever, breathless and eternal.

She soon grew bored of it, and left for somewhere else.

\------

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

GC: 4R4D14 H3Y  
GC: 1 TOLD YOU 1 WOULD H4V3 1T 4LL F1GUR3D OUT 4ND 1 DO  
GC: SO YOU DONT N33D TO WORRY 4BOUT 4 TH1NG >:]  
GC: …4R4D14?

apocalypseArisen’s [AA’S] computer was vaporized.

GC: 4R4D14!  
GC: >:O

\------

gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

GC: SOLLUX 1 N33D YOUR H3LP  
GC: TH1S 1S SO NOT TH3 T1M3 TO B3 4LL MOODY 4ND S4D 4ND WH4TNOT!  
GC: TH1S 1S URG3NT!!  
GC: WH3R3 4R3 YOU?! >:O

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]

TA: TZ.  
GC: TH3R3 YOU 4R3 >:[  
GC: WH4T TOOK YOU SO LONG  
TA: TZ ii ju2t diid 2omethiing awful.  
GC: WH4T 4R3 YOU T4LK1NG 4BOUT  
TA: ii ju2t kiilled aradiia.  
GC: >:O  
GC: WH4T?!  
TA: there wa2 thii2 voiice iin my head ii couldnt iignore.  
TA: iit wa2nt liike the other one2 iit wa2 iin2ii2tant and iit conviinced me two eat the miind honey and go fiind her.  
TA: ii had no control over iit.  
TA: ii vaporiized her and her hiive and her lu2u2.  
TA: everythiing2 gone.  
TA: 2he2 gone TZ.  
TA: ii dont know how thii2 happened ii couldnt 2top doiing what that voiice told me two do.  
GC: 4LR1GHT LOOK SLOW DOWN  
GC: TH1S  
GC: CR4P >XO  
GC: SOLLUX TH1S 1SNT YOUR F4ULT  
TA: what the hell are you talkiing about of cour2e iit2 my fault!  
TA: ii kiilled her!  
GC: Y34H OK4Y YOU D1D BUT YOU D1DNT H4V3 4NY CONTROL OV3R YOURS3LF  
GC: 1F 1M R1GHT  
GC: 4ND 1M PR3TTY SUR3 1 4M  
GC: VR1SK4 M1ND CONTROLL3D YOU 1NTO K1LL1NG H3R  
GC: WH1CH 1S 4CTU4LLY K1ND OF MY F4ULT >:[  
TA: what are you talkiing about?  
TA: who2 vrii2ka?  
GC: 4R4CHN1DSGR1P  
GC: SH3 MUST H4V3 TR13D TROLL1NG YOU B3FOR3  
TA: yeah 2he triied but 2he 2ounded liike a major tool two be honest.  
GC: YOU H4V3 NO 1D34 >:[  
GC: 4NYW4Y TH3 PO1NT 1S 1 G4V3 H3R YOUR TROLL14N H4NDL3  
GC: WH1CH G4V3 H3R TH3 POW3R SH3 N33D3D TO K1LL 4R4D14  
TA: why would you giive her my name?  
GC: >:[  
GC: 1 W4S BL1ND  
GC: SH3 S41D SH3 N33D3D 4 H4CK3R 4ND 1 TRUST3D H3R  
GC: BUT 1M THROUGH W1TH H3R 4ND 4LL H3R L13S >:[  
GC: 4ND 1TS T1M3 TO S3T H3R STR41GHT  
GC: NOW 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO S1T TH3R3 4ND F33L SORRY FOR YOURS3LF OR 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO H3LP M3 G3T R3V3NG3?  
TA: ii a22ume you have a plan?  
GC: D4MN R1GHT 1 DO  
TA: what ii2 iit?  
GC: 1TS COMPL1C4T3D  
GC: 4ND 1 DONT W4NT H3R G3TT1NG B4CK 4T YOU 1F SOM3TH1NG GO3S WRONG  
GC: SO 1M GO1NG TO SP4R3 YOU TH3 D3T41LS  
GC: 4LL YOU N33D TO KNOW 1S TH4T TH3R3S SOM3ON3 1 N33D TO G3T 1N CONT4CT W1TH  
GC: C4N YOU TR4C3 H1S M3SS4G3S?  
TA: 2eriiou2ly that2 iit?  
GC: 1 KNOW 1 KNOW 1TS 4 HUG3 W4ST3 OF YOUR T4L3NTS SORRY >:/  
TA: iit2 fiine iit2 2omethiing for me two do ii gue22.  
TA: two get back at her and ii gue22 repent for what ii diid.  
TA: even iif ii couldnt control iit.  
GC: TH4TS TH3 SP1R1T  
GC: OK4Y 1LL HOOK YOU UP W1TH TH3 1NFORM4T1ON  
GC: L3T M3 KNOW WH3N YOUR3 DON3 W1TH 1T  
TA: iitll take two 2econd2 dont worry.  
TA: but terezii.  
GC: Y34H?  
TA: that ii.  
TA: that aradiia2 dead do you thiink we can keep that a 2ecret between u2 for the tiime beiing?  
GC: TH4T WONT L4ST LONG 4S 4 S3CR3T  
GC: SH3S K1ND OF D34D >:/  
TA: ii know.  
TA: but iif que2tiion2 2tart beiing a2ked iit2 goiing two come down two beiing her agaiin2t me.  
TA: who do you thiink ii2 goiing two be blamed for thii2?  
GC: 1 COULD CONV1NC3 TH3M >:[  
TA: ii dont want two have two deal wiith that.  
TA: and you 2houldnt have two eiither.  
TA: 2o can we ju2t keep thii2 between u2 for a2 long a2 we can?  
GC: S1GH.  
GC: F1N3.  
GC: 1F TH4TS WH4T YOU W4NT  
GC: WH4T3V3R G3TS YOU TO WORK ON TH1S F4ST3R  
GC: NOW COM3 ON SOLLUX W3 4R3 ON 4 STR1CT V3NG34NC3 T1M3T4BL3 H3R3  
TA: ok ok chiill ju2t 2end me the iinfo.  
GC: ON 1TS W4Y!  
GC: 4ND SOLLUX?  
TA: what.  
GC: DONT WORRY  
GC: TH1SLL T4K3 C4R3 OF H3R ONC3 4ND FOR 4LL  
GC: >:|

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

 

5  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]

GC: H3Y VR1SK4  
GC: PR3TTY CL3V3R US1NG MY LUSUS TO G3T B4CK 4T M3 L1K3 TH4T!  
GC: 1 H4V3 TO 4DM1T 1 N3V3R WOULD H4V3 THOUGHT OF TH4T  
AG: 8h my g8d why 8re you still here????????  
GC: WH4T  
GC: D1D YOU TH1NK YOU K1LL3D M3? >:]  
GC: TH4T 1D B3 L3FT BL1ND 4ND W4ND3R1NG 1N TH3 FOR3ST UNT1L SOM3 W1LD B34ST 4TT4CK3D M3 4ND 4T3 M3?  
AG: Yeah something l8ke that.  
GC: GOOD TH1NG YOU LOST YOUR TOUCH TH3N  
AG: W8s that supposed to 8e a joke? >::::(  
GC: WH4T >:?  
GC: OH H4H4H4H4  
GC: H3H3H3H3H3H3!!  
GC: WOW NO 1T W4SNT BUT TH4T W4S 4CTU4LLY K1ND OF FUNNY DONT YOU TH1NK??  
AG: N8t really.  
GC: OH COM3 ON DONT B3 SO S3NS1T1V3!  
AG: How 8re you even typing 8nyw8y?  
AG: How are you 8ven reading this????????  
GC: 1 C4N SM3LL TH3 K3YS  
GC: 4ND WH3N 1 L1CK TH3 SCR33N 1 C4N T4ST3 YOUR T3XT  
GC: MS BLU3B3RRY BUBBL3GUM >:]  
AG: Th8 sounds a8solutely gross XXXXP  
GC: 1TS NOT GROSS! >:[  
GC: MY LUSUS T4UGHT M3  
GC: SH3 T4LKS TO M3 4LL TH3 T1M3 NOW  
GC: WH1CH 1S YOUR DO1NG 1 SUPPOS3  
GC: SO TH4NKS 1 GU3SS >:?  
AG: This is the most disgusting displ8y of insincere gr8itude I’ve 8ver seen!  
GC: 1TS NOT 1NS1NC3R3 1 M34N 1T!!  
AG: Like h8ll you do.  
GC: 4444UGH YOUR3 B31NG 1MPOSS1BL3! >:[  
AG: R8 8ecause you’re 8n a8solute pl8sure to deal with!  
GC: W4Y MOR3 TH4N YOULL 3V3R B3 >:]  
AG: Wow look 8 that the short 8mount of time I have res8rved for arguing with 8 cr8zy 8lind girl has 8xpired.  
GC: OH D4MN 1 D1DNT 4CTU4LLY COM3 H3R3 TO 4RGU3 >:[  
GC: 1 C4M3 FOR 4 TRUC3  
AG: Oh yeah r8!  
AG: That’s possi8ly the thinnest v8il of su8terfuge in the h8story of 8ver.  
AG: H3y Vr8sk4 l3t’s h4v3 4 truc3 8ut not r34lly! >::::]  
AG: 4ctu4lly wh3n your gu4rd’s down 1’m go1ng to t4k3 your oth3r 3y3 so w3 c4n 8oth 83 8l1nd 4nd stuuuuuuuup11111111d!  
GC: TH4T TOOK YOU L1K3 31GHT WHOL3 M1NUT3S TO TYP3 >:/  
AG: That’s 8ecause you type l8ke a tool!!!!!!!!  
AG: 8lso in case it didn’t occur to you it’s k8nd of h8rd to type with one 8rm! D::::AG: 8nyway screw you and your truce.  
AG: I’m not f8lling for it.  
GC: YOU TH1NK 1M LY1NG?  
GC: L3TS STOP 4ND SM3LL TH3 F4CTS H3R3 MY F4VOR1T3 3X SCOURG3 S1ST3R  
AG: You only h8ve one Ex-Scourge S8ster.  
GC: WH1CH 1S TH3 ONLY W4Y YOUR3 MY F4VOR1T3 >:]  
AG: Oh fuck you!!!!!!!!  
GC: 4NYW4Y S3R1OUSLY  
GC: 1N TH3 COURS3 OF OUR FR13NDSH1P  
GC: HOW M4NY T1M3S D1D 1 4CTU4LLY L13 TO YOU  
AG: Who knows!  
AG: I 8et lots 8nd lots!  
GC: WRONG TH3 4NSW3R W4S N3V3R  
GC: WH1CH 1S MOR3 TH4N 1 C4N S4Y FOR YOU  
AG: That doesn’t ev8n m8tter now.  
AG: I know you’re capa8le of lying just 8s much as I am.  
AG: If not to your fri8nds then to your enemies.  
AG: Which you seem to 8e implying we 8re now.  
GC: NOOOOO!  
GC: OH W41T L3T M3 TYP3 OUT 31GHT OF TH3S3  
GC: NOOOOOOOO!  
GC: TH4TS WHY 1M SUGG3ST1NG 4 TRUC3 NUMNUTS  
GC: 1M DON3 B31NG 3N3M13S W1TH YOU  
GC: TH4TS HOW 1NNOC3NT P3OPL3 G3T HURT  
GC: 4ND K1LL3D >:[  
GC: 4ND KNOW1NG US W3D PROB4BLY JUST 3ND UP COMPL3T3LY OBL1T3R4T1NG 34CH OTH3R 4ND G3TT1NG LOTS OF OTH3R P3OPL3 1NVOLV3D  
GC: SO 1TS GOT TO STOP  
GC: 4R3 YOU ON BO4RD OR NOT?  
AG: Wh8t 8re the t8rms of your stupid truce?  
GC: S1MPLE  
GC: TH3 CYCL3 OF R3V3NG3 3NDS H3R3  
GC: 1 DONT G3T B4CK 4T YOU FOR WH4T YOU D1D TO M3  
GC: OR 4R4D14 OR T4VROS OR SOLLUX  
AG: Oh my g8d was th8 8ven n8cessary????????  
AG: Why do you ev8n c8re th8yre just 8 8unch of cr8ppy pl8yers and stupid 8ipol8r shitty h8ckers!  
GC: Y34H OK4Y WH4T3V3R BUT TH3YR3 MY FR13NDS 4ND TH3Y W3R3 SUPPOS3D TO B3 YOURS TOO AND TH3Y D1DNT D3S3RV3 3V3RYTH1NG YOU D1D TO TH3M! >:[  
GC: NOW QU13T!  
GC: SO 1 DONT G3T B4CK 4T YOU FOR 4LL TH4T  
GC: 4ND YOU STOP US1NG YOUR POW3RS ON 1NNOC3NT P3OPL3 TO G3T TO 4CTU4L WRONGDO3RS  
GC: 1 WOULD B3 H4PPY TO S3ND YOU TH3 PROP3R D3F1N1T1ON OF 4 WRONGDO3R 1F YOU L1K3 >:]  
AG: Uuuuuuuugh!  
GC: HOW 4BOUT TH4T  
GC: DO3S TH4T SOUND F41R TO YOU?  
GC: VR1SK4?  
AG: Ok fine what8ver!  
AG: You c8n h8ve your stup8d truce!  
AG: N8w just le8ve me 8lone!!!!!!!!  
GC: GL4DLY >:]

gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]

\------

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]  
AA: s0llux i f0und s0mething again  
AA: s0llux  
AA: are y0u there  
TA: holy fuck what the hell?  
TA: ii  
TA: ii mean.  
TA: you diied.  
AA: n0t entirely  
TA: what the hell ii2 that 2uppo2ed two mean?!  
AA: n0thing y0u sh0uld c0ncern y0urself ab0ut right n0w  
AA: the basic gist 0f it is  
AA: i died  
AA: but n0t really  
AA: it d0esnt really matter  
AA: the p0int is that i can still talk t0 y0u  
AA: i f0und s0mething i need y0u t0 l00k at  
TA: ii gue22 youre not goiing two a2k me two gue22 what iit ii2 thii2 tiime.  
AA: what w0uld be the p0int 0f d0ing that  
AA: 0_0  
TA: …  
TA: thii2 ii2 2eriiou2ly depre22iing me riight now.  
TA: fiine what the hell ii2 iit?  
AA: id rather y0u n0t be depressed  
AA: its a game  
AA: 0r m0re specifically  
AA: techn0l0gy i acquired from the fr0g ruins near my 0ld hive  
AA: 0ut 0f which i w0uld like y0u t0 make a game  
TA: what iif ii dont want two make a game out of your 2tupiid technology?  
AA: are y0u angry with me  
TA: …  
TA: no ii dont thiink ii could be.  
TA: e2peciially 2iince youre the one who 2hould probably be angry wiith me.  
AA: im n0t angry  
AA: i am 0k with what happened  
TA: …  
AA: m0re t0 the p0int it was meant t0 happen s0 there is n0 p0int in getting upset  
TA: thii2 ii2 crazy.  
AA: s0llux im sending y0u this file n0w  
AA: y0ull kn0w what t0 d0 with it  
TA: what the hell 2ort of game am ii 2uppo2ed two be makiing anyway?  
AA: a game that we will play t0 save 0ur civilizati0n as we kn0w it  
TA: holy 2hiit.  
TA: 2eriiou2ly?  
AA: yes  
AA: it sh0uld be a game that will interest even y0u  
AA: here take a l00k  
\-- apocalypseArisen [AA] sent twinArmageddons [TA] the file “weirdc0des.rar” --  
AA: what d0 y0u make 0f it  
TA: hang on thii2 ii2 goiing two take a liittle tiime.  
TA: thii2 code ii2 kiind of crappy 2orry.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: thats the best I c0uld d0  
TA: …do you ever get the feeliing that youre doiing 2omethiing youve already done before?  
AA: n0 n0t anym0re  
TA: …aradiia thii2 2uck2.  
AA: what d0es  
TA: talkiing two you.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: s0rry  
AA: n0w that ive given y0u the data  
AA: y0u can st0p if y0u want  
TA: no waiit.  
TA: iit2 fiine.  
TA: ju2t.  
TA: 2tay here.  
TA: iit2 better than nothiing.  
AA: 0_0  
AA: 0k  
TA: ok well ii thiink ii can fiigure thii2 out.  
AA: g00d  
TA: what am ii 2uppo2ed two do wiith thii2 game when iim done makiing iit?  
AA: we will play it with 0ur friends  
AA: and pr0bably s0me enemies  
AA: in an attempt t0 save the w0rld  
TA: that 2ound2 pretty 2tupiid iif you a2k me.  
TA: why play wiith our enemiie2?  
AA: because we will need them  
AA: and because the v0ices said we w0uld  
TA: oh 2o you can hear them loud and clear now two?  
AA: very clearly  
AA: they say they have been telling y0u f0r sweeps wh0 t0 play with  
AA: adi0st0read0r carcin0geneticist arseniccatnip grimauxiliatrix gall0wscalibrat0r arachnidsgrip centaurstesticle terminallycaprici0us caligulasaquarium cuttlefishculler  
AA: and me  
TA: you mean two tell me all that yammeriing wa2 about thii2 2hiitty game?  
AA: yes  
AA: and saving 0ur race  
TA: thii2 ii2 retarded.  
AA: i am 0k with whatever its mental capacity is  
TA: anyway fuck that2 a lot of people two be playiing one game.  
AA: the game sh0uld acc0unt f0r us being split up int0 teams 0f s0rts  
AA: i will leave that t0 y0u  
TA: what iif they dont want two play?  
AA: they will have t0  
AA: 0r they will die  
AA: 0_0  
TA: FUCK aradiia what the hell??  
AA: d0nt w0rry y0u will n0t have t0 d0 much c0nvincing  
AA: just make the game  
AA: ill make sure everything else falls int0 place as they said it will  
TA: the voiice2 you mean?  
AA: yes  
TA: ok you know what fuck thii2.  
TA: iive 2pent far two much tiime tryiing two iignore doiing what tho2e fuckiing voiice2 triied telliing me two do and iim not ju2t goiing two giive that up now.  
TA: iim not doiing thii2 for them.  
AA: but y0u will d0 it  
TA: yeah yeah iill do iit.  
TA: but iim doiing iit for you.

twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

AA: 0_0  
AA: 0k

\------

Sollux stared at his screen. It was divided in two; half of it was filled with the shitty code Aradia had just given him, and the other half contained a decidedly less shitty code for the program to identify the bones she had found. It seemed so long ago that he had promised to work on it; it had gone on hold while he had designed the four-wheeled device Tavros was presently seated in, and now…

He sighed, sinking forward to rest his head on his desk. It was really pointless to work on it, now. The bones had probably been vaporized along with everything else, and anyway he doubted the new Aradia would even care about it anymore. She seemed to not care about a lot of things.

Fuck this stupid code, and fuck this stupid game. Fuck the voices and fuck fate and fuck all of this. He didn’t want to have anything more to do with the bitch who’d forced her way into his psyche and screwed up his life. He didn’t want anything to do with her entire set, those double-talking so-called high-bloods with not a drop of decency among them. Even Terezi had sold him out. And now he had to play a game with them, upon which the survival of their race depended? Well fuck that!

…Was what he’d like to say. But no matter how much he rebelled, no matter how much he wanted the voices to be wrong or to go away, they were unstoppable. And now Aradia was nothing more than their pawn, a mouthpiece for their goddamn prophecies and creepy predictions. And mind-control or not, if only he’d been stronger, better able to fend Vriska off, she would still be alive, still safe from their influence. Which would have been worse: if she had died normally, or that he was still able to talk to her anyway, a constant reminder of his failure?

It had been nearly a week since the incident, and since the toll of the injured in this seemingly endless cycle of revenge had yet again doubled. Tavros and Terezi seemed to be adapting to their situations fairly well. He couldn’t care less if she was. And Aradia…

Well, she had adapted. Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

He wondered if anyone else knew by now. Anyone else but him and Terezi, and of course the one who’d done it in the first place. She wouldn’t…tell anyone, would she? At this point, he wouldn’t put it past her. But…what would they say? What would…

Groaning, Sollux pushed himself up from his desk and refocused his eyes back on his computer screen. It was pointless to think about all this now. There was work to be done, he supposed. This game…

He closed his bones program work and allowed the data from the ruins to take up his entire screen. Picking through this was going to take a while. Everything seemed to be made as esoteric as possible, with strange symbols and animal hieroglyphs speckling the screen. He was going to need to parse this first, get it down on paper and start hacking at it the old-fashioned way. As he printed out large chunks of code, he thought vaguely about what to call this stupid game. A few different possibilities flitted through his mind before his gaze landed on the variety of game grubs scattered around the floor of his respiteblock. Grubs. Sgrub. It was utterly inelegant. The old Aradia would have hated it.

…But the new one wouldn’t care. So why should he? Sgrub it was.

 

6  
There was a knock on the door. Lately, any sudden noise had Vriska on edge. It had been nearly a week since she’d been able to feed her lusus; losing an arm and seven of eight eyes made it a little difficult to hunt, much less FLARP…and anyway she didn’t feel much like FLARPing these days. But no hunting meant no tasty little troll sacrifices, and that meant good old Spidermom was starting to get hungry. And the hungrier she got, the more likely she was going to go after the closest source of food.

But the knock was just that: a knock, and nothing more. Even if it sounded as if it were close to splintering her door.

“I’m coming!” she called as the pounding sounded again, threatening to expose her to the cold night air of the early 12th perigee. “Geez Equius could you maybe not break my door down!?”

She knew it was Equius. Who else would it be?

“You look horrible,” was the first thing he said when she opened the door. She gaped at him at first while he slipped inside, something wrapped in a rag under his arm.

“Thanks, _buddy_ ,” she responded through fangs gritted in a false smile. “Sure was good of you to take some time out of that busy schedule of yours to come over.”

“Your present state is your own fault for playing games with scumbloods,” he replied calmly, turning to face her. “Though I must say it is a little embarrassing to know they got the best of you.”

“Screw you!” she exclaimed, annoyed out of her feigned geniality. “This was all Terezi’s doing!”

“I believe we have already discussed my opinion of that lowblood-chaser. Additionally,” he continued, the tone of his voice growing thin, “you will watch how you address your betters, and the one who is helping you out.”

She grumbled unintelligibly at him and attempted to fold her singular arm across her chest, failing spectacularly.

Equius watched this with a raised eyebrow. “Better, I suppose. Now, where would you like to do this?”

Out of the corner of her good eye, Vriska watched Equius watch her, his stare piercing the dark, cracked lenses of his shades to make her shudder as she one-handedly gathered a pair of chairs close together in a nearby block. As she positioned the second one, he sat in the first and began to unwrap a pile of tools from the bundle with which he had arrived. Eventually, she sat beside him, observing these motions without a word until…

“Oh god Equius, it’s beautiful.”

The prosthetic arm he produced last from the bundle glinted dully in the light of the setting red sun through her window, a mass of dark metal and cording and careful precision. He held it up close to his face, as if inspecting it for flaws. There were none.

“Of course it is,” he answered blandly. “Everything I build is absolutely perfect. Even you will find little to complain about.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she snapped, breaking her staring contest with her one-eyed reflection in the paneling of the arm to frown at him.

He didn’t answer but merely lowered the piece from eye level and turned his attention to her expectantly. “You will remove your jacket.”

After one last brief moment of frowning over at him, she slowly moved to comply, working the stump of her left arm from the torn jacket and depositing it on her lap before rolling up the offending sleeve of her T-shirt.

He grimaced.

“Did you _cauterize_ this?” Equius demanded, distaste filling his words.

“Well you know I was gonna look into some safer and _less excruciatingly painful_ methods, but I was kind of low on time. And limbs.”

Kanaya may have come over to help her, if Vriska had been humble enough to unblock her and ask.

“Then this, too, is your own fault. I need working nerves to attach this properly. You should have told me.”

Before Vriska could ask what he meant, he held her shoulder in a firm, painful grip and jammed the prosthetic into her stump. All words left her in the form of a long cry of agony. What felt like eighty giant buzzbeasts’ stingers shot into her shoulder, entertaining thoughts of breaking through to the other side, but the only blood came from where the arm had entered in the first place. Bright spots of blue ( _Blueberry bubblegum blue_ , surfaced in her pain-shocked mind, inexplicably) dripped onto the jacket draped over her knee.

 

“Oh great, like I didn’t get enough blood on the last one,” she managed to say through teeth gritted against the hurt.

“You will be quiet,” he responded coolly, pulling out a screwdriver. “It will benefit you in the end if you do not distract me.”

Vriska clenched her good hand around the arm of the chair but fell silent, turning away from his work despite her curiosity. Too much looking at her own blood lately. She didn’t want to have to get used to the sight of it.

And anyway with her face turned from Equius, she could let the pain paint itself onto her expression. Before the initial sensations of him gripping her shoulder and the needles jabbing into her arm could subside, they were now replaced with an intense, growing pressure while he screwed the arm onto the end of her ruined limb. As he tightened bolts into place, the squeezing sensation traveled up to her shoulder and began filling her chest with the feeling. It strangled her throat, her heart, her lungs. She felt the hollow echoes of it all the way down in her toes and in the gaping hole where seven of her eight eyes used to be.

He paused.

“You’re crying.”

She unclamped her good hand from the arm of the chair and quickly reached up to wipe off the pale blue tears streaming down her cheeks. “No shut up, what are you talking about?! Why would I be crying, it’s not like this _hurts_ or anything!”

“You were also making rather distracting noises when I specifically told you not to.”

Vriska couldn’t remember making any noises, and she sure as hell hadn’t been doing it on purpose.

“Well geez sorry, let me just bite off my other arm and gag myself wi--AUGH!”

He had finished tightening one last bolt and reached into a tiny gap between two cords to flip an even tinier switch, and suddenly the pain from the wound numbed by time and intense heat redoubled upon her tenfold. He let her go and she fell out of her chair screaming, clutching at her shoulder with one hand and at the floor with the other, her single eye wide with shock and pain. Equius ignored her, and by the time her cries had subsided into whimpers, he had most of his tools packed up.

“This will, perhaps, teach you greater care in the future. A blue-blood is not indestructible, Vriska Serket, and the lower classes will only use that to their advantage. The more you show them that you can be harmed, the more they will come after you.”

“What,” she gasped out, “…are you getting at, Zahhak?”

“I am saying that in the state you are in, you are careless and weak. If you allow the lower classes to have the upper hand, they will not hesitate to take it from you. Or to take your own hand from you, I suppose.”

Vriska slowly slid up to a sitting position, trying to force her head to be still as she watched him slowly roll his tools back up into their bundle.

“Well yeah ok, great. Nice lecture, that’s definitely what I needed to hear right now.”

“It is one of the many services I offer to the less fortunate.”

She stared at him, open-mouthed, when she realized he was being completely serious.

“Crap, _this_ is the reason I prefer talking to you online!” she exclaimed, cheeks turning a pale cerulean in her humiliation. “At least there I can pretend you’re joking about the awful things you say sometimes!”

Something very strong clamped onto her jaw and dragged her to her feet, so her face was inches from Equius’s now angry, damp features. “I came here and installed this arm for you out of respect for a fellow blue-blood, but you have been insubordinate to me ever since I arrived, and _you will stop_ ,” he ground out. “Do not believe I will continue to endure verbal abuse from you. I am aware of what you think of me, and I assure you the feeling is mutual. But do not forget that we are not quite equals. I hold the upper hand here and will continue to do so.”

Only then did Vriska realize that both of his strong hands were still wrapped around his bundle of tools, and that what was gripping her face was her own prosthetic, acting on someone else’s will.

“Oh my god what did you _doooooooo_?!” she cried, eyes snapping down to try and look at the offending limb.

“I merely figured there would be times when it would be necessary to remind you who made your arm. As you have just neatly demonstrated, I was correct in my assumption. You will do well to not forget it in the future.”

The hand released her, and she drew back, shooting glances between him and the thing attached to her shoulder. “You’re right,” she forced herself to say, restraining the sarcasm that was dying to creep into her voice. “I was out of line.”

“…” He watched her quietly, his mouth a thin, hard line. “Good,” he finally said, “I am glad you understand.” Equius didn’t fool himself into believing she meant what she said, but he knew the power of his threat was potent enough for her to keep pretending, and that was good enough for him.

Finally finding herself released from his gaze, she experimentally made the decision to lift her left arm. The idea traveled down from her bone nook on a trail of nerves to her shoulder, where it came into contact with metal spokes that knew how to take care of the rest. Her arm lifted.

Turned.

Bent.

Fingers wiggled dexterously, their exactitude greater than the ones they had replaced. She gripped the top of her chair and found that she could, if she wanted, break it to pieces with just a thought.

For a moment, her anger was fleeting. “ _Damn_ ,” she mumbled appreciatively.

Equius would not smile in her presence, but his expression at least became less furious. “I take pride in all my work,” he told her, “no matter how little the recipient may deserve it.”

Vriska only had the briefest chance to be irritated at the charge before it was replaced by a more familiar and welcome cunning. Now was not the time to anger him further, not when she still had uses for him.

“That reminds me…”

Distrust bloomed within Equius again, but he held his expression in check. “What is it?”

“I may need your help with something else. One last project, what do you say?”

He raised an eyebrow at her but allowed her to continue.

“So that red-blood, the one I killed, right?”

“Which in turn incurred the wrath of your ex-partner. I recall. What of it?”

“I want you to make her a robot body.”

She spat out the words as quickly as possible so she could sooner get to the part where his face contorted into utter disgust. She was not disappointed.

“Why in heck would you want me to do that?” he demanded. “Aid a red-blood? The idea’s so far beneath both of us that the troll Empress may come upon it in her deepest caverns. Though I should hope she does not.” His face contorted further, much to Vriska’s surprise that it could. “In any case, the red-blood is dead. What would be the point?”

“She haunts me, though. It’s kind of a thing she does. Anyway, don’t see this as helping her. It’s more like…” She paused for a moment, considering the situation. “Put it this way: You make her a robot body. Her ghost goes into it. She can think and feel again and stop being incredibly boring and lame and starts being all useful and, I don’t know, peasant-like again. And then she goes, ‘0h vriska y0u are such a g00d friend! i cant believe i ever th0ught 0f y0u any 0ther way! i sure d0 feel bad ab0ut pissing y0u 0ff and causing y0u t0 kill me! and n0w i see y0uve changed y0ur mind ab0ut me being dead and useless and b0ring! let me sh0w y0u and y0ur str0ng bluebl00ded superi0r h0w very grateful i am by being l0yal and dedicated t0 y0u f0rever!’ Then boom, we both have a devoted robot slave girl for life, or something.”

She paused, then sighed.

“I’ll go get the towels.”

“That will not be necessary,” he choked out, “I have brought some of my own with me this time.”

Vriska sat down in her now broken chair and leaned her chin on her robot hand as she waited for him to mop himself up.

“This is an interesting proposal,” he admitted, sitting beside her and pocketing the damp, blue-stained towel once more. “However, I am having a difficult time wrapping my mind around this concept.”

“What, passive-aggression?”

“No. Trying to make a robot in the form of a peasant.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Aren’t you the one who said all your creations are perfect or whatever?”

“Yes. And they are.”

She leaned back, folded her hands behind her head, and shrugged, reveling in the fluidity of it all. “So make her perfect.”

Vriska almost tricked herself into thinking she had heard his brain crack. A fresh towel appeared out of his other pocket, and he was soon back up on his feet.

“I will need to think on the best way to go about this. In the meantime, it may be necessary to…converse with this ‘ghost,’ to get a proper idea of what I’m to be dealing with. She is haunting you, you say? I trust you would have told me if she were haunting you now?”

“Oh, no, she haunts me on Trollian,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “I can give you her handle if you wanna talk to her that bad.”

“That would suffice. Very well, I will take this idea into consideration. You will hear from me in a couple days.”

“Great!” Vriska jumped up, mood greatly improved, and showed him to the door. “Thanks, for that and for the arm.”

“You will take care of it. I do not relish making these hive calls.”

“Yeah yeah absolutely! Don’t worry about it! I’ll take great care of it! You won’t be hearing any complaints from me…so long as, you know, I’m in control of it,” she added, lips twitching into a frown.

“You will rest assured that as long as I am not given a reason to, I plan on leaving the dominion of it in your other hand.”

“Great. Perfect! Let me know how it goes with ghost-girl, ok?”

“I will do that. See that you do nothing that further lowers my esteem of you in the meantime.”  
Equius left her hive on that note, with a slurry of mixed feelings swirling on both sides of the now-closed door. Ignoring the new spots of blood, Vriska shrugged her jacket back on and headed up to her respiteblock. Now that that plan was in motion, she had other things to worry about: namely, the hungry screeching that was beginning to sound from the cavern down below her hive. Beside her computer, she prepared another FLARP grub to hatch. Some habits were hard to break, but others were simply necessary.

\------

centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

CT: D --> You there  
CT: D --> Peasant  
AA: uh  
AA: hell0  
CT: D --> Your bewildered yet prompt response does you credit  
AA: thanks  
CT: D --> And you at least have some inkling of the proper manners involved when you conduct a conversation  
CT: D --> Perhaps this was not such a terrible idea after all  
AA: what  
CT: D --> Messaging you  
AA: 0h  
AA: 0k  
AA: was there s0mething y0u wanted  
CT: D --> Your eagerness to attend to me is appre%iated  
CT: D --> Though at the moment my intention is solely to converse with you  
CT: D --> In the future I e%pect to take advantage of your e%ceptional server abilities  
AA: yes  
AA: that is s0mething that y0u will d0  
CT: D --> You are being abso100tly agreeable  
CT: D --> I may have been given the wrong impre%ion of you  
AA: 0_0  
AA: wh0 has been talking t0 y0u ab0ut me  
CT: D --> I believe you are the one who imposed upon my moirail to parti%ipate in a 100dicrously immature game  
AA: 0h  
AA: yes i supp0se i was  
AA: i have n0 interest in that anym0re  
AA: i w0nt be b0thering her ab0ut it again  
CT: D --> E%cellent  
CT: D --> You understand now that games are merely the distra%ions of the juvenile and the f001ish and the mentally handicapped  
AA: n0t all games th0ugh  
AA: s0me games can have very high stakes  
AA: surely y0u might find y0urself interested in a game that c0uld  
AA: f0r example  
AA: be played in 0rder t0 save 0ur very civilizati0n  
CT: D --> If, for e%ample, I found myself confronted with such an e%tremely important game  
CT: D --> I may consider parti%ipating in that e%c100sively  
CT: D --> If such a thing does in fact e%ist  
AA: it d0es n0t yet  
AA: but it will  
CT: D --> How do you know that  
AA: because i have c0mmissi0ned 0ne  
CT: D --> That was e%tremely thoughtful of you  
CT: D --> Your foresight is notable  
CT: D --> What is your name, peasant  
AA: aradia  
CT: D --> Good  
CT: D --> I believe I have gathered enough information for the time being  
CT: D --> I will take my leave now  
CT: D --> Talking to you, while gratifying, has left me a little  
CT: D --> Damp  
AA: 0_0  
CT: D --> I e%pect I will be contacting you again  
CT: D --> You will plan accordingly

centaursTesticle [CT] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

\------

caligulasAquarium [CA] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT]

CA: equ  
CT: D --> It is an honor to hear from you, my lord  
CT: D --> But I have been meaning to ask for some time  
CT: D --> How e%actly do you pronounce this nickname you have bestowed upon me  
CA: thats not important right noww  
CT: D --> Very well  
CT: D --> Is there something I can help you with  
CA: damn right there is  
CA: i hear vvriss askin you to be collaboratin wwith her on some neww project  
CA: but she hasnt been respondin to my messages in wweeks  
CA: shes not makin another doomsday devvice is she  
CA: because she nevver delivvered that last one i asked her for  
CT: D --> My lord  
CA: is she makin one for someone else  
CA: that fuckin good for nothin doublecrossin backstabbin bitch  
CT: D --> My lord please  
CT: D --> I understand you are upset but this language  
CT: D --> It is like a de100ge of waste and to%ins emitting from god’s mouth  
CA: shut up equ  
CT: D --> Yes sir  
CA: tell me wwhat shes wworkin on  
CA: wwhat are you helpin her wwith  
CA: thats a order  
CT: D --> Yes my lord  
CT: D --> As you say, she is busy with a new project  
CT: D --> I believe the last device I aided her with has indeed gone over100ked  
CA: i fuckin kneww it  
CT: D --> However if I may e%press my own opinion  
CT: D --> I do not think this is due to any particular %%ing  
CA: you wwerent givven permission to express your opinion  
CT: D --> Noted, sir  
CT: D --> Vriska’s new project is the consequence of a su%ession of f001ish actions which have managed to occupy much of her time  
CT: D --> However, although this task was her con%eption it is a product of my own design  
CA: wwhat do you mean  
CT: D --> What I am trying to e%press is that while this project was her idea, the details and constru%ion are my e%c100sive responsibility  
CT: D --> Therefore this particular undertaking is not the cause of any attention your kismesis may not be giving you  
CA: this is fuckin ridiculous  
CA: wwhy the hell is she ignorin me then  
CT: D --> I do not know, sir  
CT: D --> Additionally you have asked me to refrain from e%pressing my opinion  
CA: yeah you can keep refrainin from that  
CT: D --> As you wish, my lord  
CT: D --> But if I may remind you, she is my neighbor  
CT: D --> I believe I could e%tract the relevant information from her if you wished it  
CA: fuck you equ i dont need you or anyone to be helpin me wwith my concupiscent issues  
CA: that wwas so fuckin insolent i cant evven  
CT: D --> My most abject apologies my lord  
CT: D --> Without intending to I have %ed the line  
CA: yeah you crossed all the goddamn lines  
CA: all of them  
CA: fuck  
CA: this is glubbin depressin  
CA: you just fuckin keep this to yourself equ  
CA: if i hear one wwhisper a you flappin your gills about this convversation there wwill be hell to pay  
CA: understand  
CT: D --> Unequivocally, sir  
CT: D --> Despite my unfortunate lack of gills this di%ussion will remain e%c100sively between us  
CT: D --> My word and my b100d be my bond  
CA: wwell ok good  
CA: later equ

caligulasAquarium [CA] ceased trolling centaursTesticle [CT]

\------

“Aurthour!” Equius raged, flinging a spare robot eye across the room. It sailed through his doorway and crashed into something out of his sight. His lusus, who must have ducked the projectile at the last moment, entered his respiteblock as quickly as possible, with a tall, cold glass of lusus milk perched precariously on a small, silver platter and a dry, blue-tinted towel balanced somewhat less precariously on an arm.

The thick liquid soothed Equius’s fury, if not enough to prevent him from breaking the glass it had come in, at least enough to keep everything else intact. He employed the towel to clean up the spilled milk and to dry off his brow, which had grown downright soaked with perspiration during his last two conversations.

Speaking with Lord Ampora was always a trial. Though not as infuriating as talking to Gamzee--the clown-worshipping nitwit could barely dredge up the mental ability to remember the order of the hemospectrum--if Equius had to be secretly honest with himself, Eridan was kind of whiny. And his use of lewd language was frequently baffling, much like the indigo-blood’s. Surely this was a mere oversight in his upbringing, though the failure it implied in his lusus was rather unfortunate. Still, at least Equius could vent his rage at Gamzee and experience no reprimand in return, no such strongly-worded criticisms or violent threats as Eridan frequently employed.

…Ah, what was he thinking! The purple-blood’s treatment of him was appropriate and expected, and Equius could always count on Lord Ampora to put him in his place. This was the way things had to be, the way they were meant to be. The way they _should_ be. If he were insubordinate, he should indeed be scolded, threatened. There was some sort of security in that notion, even if it was at times excruciatingly frustrating. It was all so very confusing to the young troll.

But, not being on speaking terms with anyone of his own blood-caste, he supposed these perplexities must now and again arise.

On the other hand, this red-blooded peasant had been almost pleasurable to speak to. She had been perfectly polite and respectful and even showed promise in other areas as well. Vriska had sent a poorly-rendered drawing of her along with her Trollian handle, so Equius already had an idea of how to proceed, but his conversation with the peasant girl Aradia had been most enlightening.

He was almost furious with his neighbor for killing her, before he remembered how felicitous the whole thing was.

Aradia’s being was wasted on her blood. Such an elegant and proper creature should have been blessed with a fate more befitting her personality. Normally it was not customary for a troll to be furnished with the ability to move up in society; how lucky for her that he could now provide her with just such a chance.

“Aurthour,” he said again, words muted with thoughtfulness. “I will need a needle, and a tourniquet. …Perhaps two,” he added, eyeing the fading blue bruise on his lusus’s shoulder from last week. “This is a selfless act we are about to commit.”

What a curious notion. Altruistically bleeding himself and his beloved custodian for the betterment of some dead peasant girl he had just met. Positively depraved. And yet it felt so…so right.

“ _AND A TOWEL_!” he shouted after Aurthour, shuddering as the sweat rolled down his neck.

 

7  
centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

CT: D --> Aradia  
CT: D --> This is una%eptable  
CT: D --> Completely ine%cusable  
CT: D --> I won’t stand for it  
AA: what are y0u talking ab0ut  
CT: D --> I have just found out, through a convo100ted series of conversations, that the b100 team will be led by that scum-b100d Sollu% Captor  
CT: D --> I am not having any of this  
AA: s0llux will n0t lead the blue team  
AA: it has already been decided  
AA: he was never meant t0  
CT: D --> …Oh  
CT: D --> Aradia  
CT: D --> This is an e%quisite power play  
AA: what  
CT: D --> No need to e%plain, I understand completely  
CT: D --> You have allowed him to believe he is the leader in order to gain his irrevocable support  
CT: D --> And you plan to use him as a member of the team, a mere pawn  
CT: D --> I am e%tremely impressed that someone of your position could develop such an elegant plan  
AA: thats n0t really h0w it happened  
AA: but the result is the same s0 whatever  
CT: D --> You are humble  
CT: D --> As befitting someone of your rank  
CT: D --> But you will need assistance for your plan to su%eed  
CT: D --> We will co-lead the b100 team  
CT: D --> With your natural grace and my cunning and influence we will be unstoppable  
AA: thats fine  
CT: D --> You are a%epting my proposal then  
AA: this is the way it was meant t0 be  
AA: s0 im 0k with it  
CT: D --> Yes  
CT: D --> Yes that is e%actly the response I was hoping for  
CT: D --> This game will be entirely in our control  
AA: are y0u sure y0ure 0k with that  
AA: being c0leaders with a peasant girl  
AA: 0_0  
CT: D --> It is a fleeting problem  
CT: D --> In time it will cease to matter  
CT: D --> Until then, do not concern yourself about it  
CT: D --> This co-leadership will be a secret for now  
CT: D --> In the meantime carry on with your plan

centaursTesticle [CT] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

\------

Equius and Vriska later had [a conversation we already read](http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004122), which began like this:

AG: Equiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuus.

And ended like this:

AG: D8n't you d8re!!!!!!!!

And then Equius went to check on the robot.

\------

It was all nonsense, anyway. He knew it, and she knew it, and he knew she knew it, and he knew she knew he knew it, and…

In any case, it was all nonsense, and everyone involved was aware of that fact. Equius would proceed with his plan to be in cahoots with Aradia long enough to take total control for himself. But he would not leave her out in the proverbial cold. No, with her, in her new position in society, by his side, together they would dominate this silly game, blue and red teams alike, and save their civilization.

For that to occur, he needed to get this robot finished and into her ghostly hands as soon as possible. He removed the tarp he had covering it, protecting it from prying eyes, and gazed on its shiny gray and blue form. His model had been nearly perfect, and so copying the robot directly from her would have made a nearly perfect creation. But that was not good enough. All her imperfections, every drop of red that had marred her inside and out, had been improved, upgraded. Perfected. Blue, his very lifeblood and that of his lusus, sat dormant within the robot body, waiting to flow through perfect mechanical veins into perfect mechanical limbs and a perfect mechanical head and back towards a perfect mechanical heart.

No, wait.

That was the final change. The heart, he finally decided--after hours, days, of wavering back and forth--the heart was not perfect. This could easily be fixed, though. The chip he had made for this purpose was already complete, still sitting on the counter where he had left it after the last time he had changed his mind and taken it out. The thought of installing it, finally installing it and leaving it there, was making him…sweat.

He swept the robotic form into his arms, admiring how the light of the moons reflected off her metal eyes and her hair. Yes. Yes, this was as it was meant to be, with her and her perfect blue blood wrapped tightly and safely in his strong grasp. Together they would--

**You’ll what?**

That voice… Equius turned sharply to stare at one of his other robots in the block. It stared back. His robots were not built to speak, but sometimes he liked to pretend they could. That delusion was better than talking to himself.

**A filthy red-blood is still filthy, even if she is no longer a red-blood. You can’t change what she is.**

Equius’s glowering shot through his shades at the robot, but it remained unperturbed, despite the silent reminder of the one who’d made it.

**Freak. You’re a freakish brute, and a hypocrite. Have fun filling pails with your low-class matespr--**

At the end of his fist, the robot crashed out of his block through the wall and exploded in the air outside, causing his entire hive to tremble.

“Any more objections?!” he demanded, staring down each of the other robots in turn. But the example had been made.

At least the rumbling outside of his hive had--

There was a loud explosion from down below, and as Equius watched with wide eyes, it tore his hive into two pieces, sending the inside wall of that very block and everything on the other side of it tumbling into the crevice between his hive and Vriska’s. That in itself would not have concerned him terribly, but as he peered over the edge, he could only watch in horror as a white figure plunged into the widened chasm below.

He cried out the name of his lusus, but it was too late. White became white and blue on the sharp rocks below. Equius turned away, feeling sick.

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT]

AA: equius  
AA: hell0  
AA: are y0u there

Eventually, the nearby sound of Trollian’s message notifications pierced through his clouded mind.

AA: y0u really sh0uld answer me  
AA: its kind 0f imp0rtant

For a while, Equius toyed with the idea of ignoring the messages entirely, but the noise was bothering him. Might as well see who it was and what they wanted and get it over with.

centaursTesticle [CT] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

CT: D --> What is it  
CT: D --> I am attempting to have a private moment of mourning  
CT: D --> This is une%pectedly horrible timing  
AA: y0ur lusus just died didnt it  
CT: D --> How did you know that  
AA: it was meant t0 happen  
AA: all 0f y0ur lusii will die  
AA: but y0u can bring him back  
CT: D --> How  
CT: D --> Tell me  
AA: i am g0ing t0 c0nnect t0 y0u  
AA: t0 begin this game  
AA: which will all0w him t0 c0me back t0 life  
AA: is y0ur grub ready  
CT: D --> It appears to be e%creting a strange f100id  
CT: D --> And some sort of round apparatus  
AA: g00d that means its hatching  
AA: mine t00  
AA: we have n0w established a c0nnecti0n  
CT: D --> Now what  
AA: n0w all y0u have t0 d0 is press enter  
CT: D --> Very well  
CT: D --> Do all games employ such e%crutiatingly esoteric loading screens  
AA: n0  
AA: n0w  
AA: i am ab0ut t0 perf0rm s0me menial ch0res in supp0rt 0f y0ur her0ic escapades  
AA: meanwhile maybe y0u sh0uld g0 check 0n y0ur lusus  
CT: D --> I will do that

centaursTesticle [CT] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]

The many stairs his hive contained would take far too long to traverse. Instead, he jumped down from the edge of the torn block, landing on the surface of the part of his hive that had fallen and splintering it further. But the structure was made strong and sure, and it managed to hold up at least enough to keep the body of his dead lusus from falling deeper into the chasm. Difficult though it was to look at the broken body, Equius forced himself to kneel beside him. Fearful of breaking his lusus’s fragile form any further, he would not touch him.

“Aurthour,” he mumbled, his movements frozen with grief and fear. “Aurthour, you…have served me well over the sweeps.” His words were uncharacteristically poorly chosen, halting, confused. “After everything I’ve put you through, everything you’ve done for me…and especially your final sacrifice, your donation of your own perfect blood to me, I…”

Trailing off, he turned away to blink back pale blue tears. “I will never forget your--” He stopped, noticing some strange undulating light hanging above his head.

“What in the heck?”

Equius rose to his feet, stepping back in shock as the body of his lusus was lifted towards the blinking, shifting kernel and merged with it in a blinding flash of light so bright that even with his shades he had to throw his hands up over his face.

AURTHOURSPRITE: Equius, my boy!  
EQUIUS: D --> A-Aurthour  
EQUIUS: D --> What does this mean  
EQUIUS: D --> You can talk now  
AURTHOURSPRITE: It appears so! I have been waiting an awfully long time to speak with you!  
EQUIUS: D --> This is e%tremely confusing  
AURTHOURSPRITE: Yes, I rather suspect it is! And we will have plenty of time to speak later!  
AURTHOURSPRITE: But for now I think you may find it practical to return to your respiteblock and continue speaking with your friend.  
AURTHOURSPRITE: Otherwise there may not be plenty of time to speak at all!  
EQUIUS: D --> I will do that, but  
EQUIUS: D --> The idea that we are friends is  
EQUIUS: D --> E%tremely disorienting  
EQUIUS: D --> I don’t suppose you can acquire me a towel in that state  
AURTHOURSPRITE: I’m afraid not, my boy!  
EQUIUS: D --> Fudgesicles

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling centaursTesticle [CT]

AA: equius  
AA: y0u really sh0uld alchemize y0urself s0me s0rt of m0bile c0mmunicati0n device  
AA: but we can d0 that later  
AA: are y0u there yet  
CT: D --> What have you done to my hive  
AA: i have merely depl0yed the appliances that will all0w y0u t0 pr0ceed and succeed in the game  
CT: D --> My recuperacoon is ruined  
CT: D --> And where is my toilet  
AA: they were in the way  
AA: s0 i br0ke them  
AA: 0_0  
AA: s0rry  
CT: D --> It  
CT: D --> It is not a huge problem, but  
CT: D --> What are all these contraptions  
AA: i can explain everything later if y0u want  
AA: f0r n0w there is 0ne thing i need y0u t0 d0  
CT: D --> What  
AA: i just made y0u a b0w 0ut 0f 0ne 0f y0ur cruxite d0wels  
AA: f0r y0u t0 pr0ceed and enter the game itself y0u will need t0 break it  
CT: D --> …  
CT: D --> I can do that  
CT: D --> Wait  
CT: D --> What was that  
CT: D --> What’s going on  
AA: y0ur hive just c0llapsed  
AA: y0u will n0w plummet t0 y0ur untimely death unless y0u d0 s0mething immediately  
CT: D --> WHAT  
AA: you really sh0uld just hurry up and g0 break that b0w  
CT: D --> Very well

 

8  
Twenty-one music boxes. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-four music boxes visible from her vantage point, atop the remains of her destroyed hive. It seemed that even though Aradia had abandoned it, the game had decided she had not. It was just as well. She could operate from here as well as from anywhere.

Nepeta was a skilled player and even better at taking direction, just two of the many reasons Aradia had chosen her as her server player, but her quick actions in getting the dead girl into the Medium meant that Aradia had been waiting here in the Land of Quartz and Melody for an excruciatingly boring twenty minutes before her client arrived with her robot body. Equius fell from the portal above her, the present tucked carefully and securely under one arm. As he straightened from his descent, she listlessly inspected the body from her lofty vantage point several feet off the ground.

It was well-made, that much was certain, and though she noticed all the blue additions…whatever, it didn’t matter. A robot body was a body after all, and she would have a difficult time getting through this game and towards their final destination without it.

Equius seemed agitated upon arrival, and only grew more so the longer he stared at her floating, froggy, dead form. She decided it would be best to spare the both of them another moment of awkward staring back and forth and headed towards the robot. The voices had made it clear enough that they would have plenty of time for awkwardness as they adventured together through the game.

Slowly, like viscous honey, she dripped into the robot, filling in the spaces within the metal frame. Strange sensations she had forgotten began seeping just as slowly back to her: the feeling of being real, physical; having hair and horns and a metal surrogate of flesh. Activated by her presence, the blood within the robot body began to pump and flow, fueling movement, allowing her to grasp things and alter things and experience, in a strange way, breathing again, being alive again.

“How does it feel?” he asked her, and Aradia took little time to consider her answer. “Different,” was her response, quick and easy. But it was more than that. The feelings took longer to come back than that sensation of being alive did, but slowly they too were returning. He prompted her, encouraged her to turn her gaze inward and recognize what she had gained back since her death. The more he spoke, the more she realized there was, perhaps, something stirring within her, something…something…

Suddenly it hit her, hard, the two patron feelings of the concupiscent quadrants at once, rattling her with their sudden strength and disparity. There was hate there, at the very center of her, a core of anger and fury and retaliation that she had forgotten existed. There was love there, coupled with it, or something like it, a shell of gratitude for reminding her of what she had misplaced all those weeks ago when she died. And then there was a strange sort of love stamped into the part of her chest where her blue heart pumped blue blood, pulling her in a direction she had never even considered. And then there was, around that, a strong casing of hate that lingered from the days when her red heart had pumped rusty red blood, shoving her along in yet another direction.

“Oh my god what did you do!” she cried, confused and torn in so many ways. With one hand and half her focus she took hold of him, kept him from running away; the other clenched by her chest, the source of all this insane, tormenting turmoil. He began babbling, half-choked by her power, explaining what he’d done, offering to remove it. By the time he was finished she couldn’t hear him anymore over the swirl of emotions tangling up inside her, old anger clashing with new; fake love at odds with true appreciation.

“Get it out!” she gasped, losing sight of reason. “Get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out get it out!!”

Equius watched, helpless, as she plunged her strong robot hand into her apparently less-strong robot chest and tore from it, in a splash of blue blood, the heart he had so painstakingly and lovingly created, and ruined with one final poor decision.

“This…disgusting…piece of garbage! Trash! Worthless vile filth!”

Unable to intercept her, he could only look on as she pounded it to pieces on the platform of her alchemiter, ignoring his cries for her to stop.

She only did so when the heart was an unrecognizable pulp of blood and metal on the pure white surface, the chip completely decimated along with it. But then she turned her attention on him, grabbing him by the collar of his tank and shaking him, slapping him.

“And you, you’re even worse! You stupid hypocritical blue-blooded _SNOB_!!” Any other troll would have broken much like that heart beneath her hand, but Equius held on, managing to take her assault without fracturing. For once his freakish strength was coming in handy.

Her grip tightened further, physical threat turned verbal barrage, and she screamed into his face from point-blank range.

“You think you can just do whatever you please? You think you can mess with my emotions like they’re your toys?! _I AM NOT YOUR PLAYTHING, EQUIUS ZAHHAK! I AM NOT YOUR PAWN TO MOVE AND CHANGE AT WILL! I AM AS MUCH A TROLL AS YOU ARE! SO FUCK YOUR STUPID CHIP, FUCK THE HEMOSPECTRUM, FUCK THE POWER YOU THINK YOU HAVE OVER ME, AND **FUCK YOU**_!!”

And then she was kissing him, and Equius didn’t care why. He wrapped her tight in his arms, and her grip around him was just as strong, just as passionate. Barely daring to breathe for fear this was all a dream, he just let it happen, reveling in its existence, too afraid to question it.

When an eternity later she broke away, glassy red eyes revealing nothing, he could only watch her helplessly, afraid to make a move before she did.

“We have much to do,” was all she would say, however, turning her sights away from him and onto the music boxes riddling her land. “We should get started.”

“Y-yes,” he managed to answer, feeling very much as if he had just awoken to a dream that would not go away. “Let us do that.”

Equius would have agreed to anything at that point, the feeling of helplessness before her strange but inviting. Where she went, he would follow, and though he had little idea of where she was headed and why, he made up his mind to go with her, fight with her, protect her if necessary. And for once he didn’t stop to wonder over silly things like propriety or respectability.

Aradia knew he would follow her, without him needing to say a word. The voices told her as much. They also told her of an item, something that could help her deal with this nasty tangle of emotions that had suddenly taken over her core. While her eventual goal remained the same, she now had a secondary one, and Equius would help her until she reached it. Together they set out, into the Land of Quartz and Melody, with enemies looming on the horizon.

\------

Aradia watched with a blank expression as Equius tore the final imp limb from limb from limb from limb from limb from limb. Six limbs: four horse, two frog. He had insisted upon dispatching this batch of them himself, and she found his stubbornness and vacillating take on whether he wanted to lead her or vice versa positively infuriating. Emotions were a double-edged sword, she was finding. On one hand, they were powerful, potent ingredients in any sort of relationship--black, red, or otherwise--but on the other, they could be crippling. Or confusing. She assumed this vacant face to try to quell them, while finding that the process was not so simple.

“It’s safe now,” he reported breathlessly, wiping his forehead with the singular, already soaked towel he had recovered from his hive before abandoning it. “Are you alright?”

“None of them even came close enough to touch me,” she reminded him, setting him with a glassy-eyed stare. “Do you think you can stop being so ridiculous? We’ll get farther in this game if you do.”

A wave of panic passed over his face. “I don’t know what you mean. What am I doing that’s ridiculous?”

“This idiotic and overwhelming desire to protect me is what’s ridiculous. Ribbit,” she added.  
The towel passed once more over his brow. “I’m afraid I still don’t understand. This is what we agreed upon, you being the secret leader over me, and me--”

“Being a leader doesn’t mean you don’t get to do anything.” He took a step back, knowing what that flash in her red eyes meant. “We’ve been at this for three hours already and you’ve refused to let me touch so much as an imp. Isn’t this more like you bossing me around?”

“I-I--”

“I’ve had enough!”

“Very well!” he interrupted, holding up his hands in surrender. “If you want to be the one to defeat the imps--”

“NO!” she cried, robot hands clenching powerfully around nothing. He winced, remembering the feeling of that grip dangerously close to his throat. “You just don’t get it! Have you never heard of teamwork?”

“Well I--”

“ _Without_ stabbing each other in the back?”

“That’s not really how blue-bloods do things--”

“ _That’s_ what’s ridiculous!”

Equius watched as Aradia slowly schooled her expression back to a neutral form and let her speak.

“We will work together from now on, on everything. To defeat these enemies, and to progress in the game.”

“If those are your orders, then--”

“They’re not orders.” Reigning her emotions in formed a tight feeling inside her robot chest, where he’d furnished her with a new, chipless heart. “Just something that would be nice if you wanted to do.”

“Because…it’s something you want me to want to do?” Equius pondered slowly, growing more confused with each word he spoke.

“I…wait, no, it’s…”

They grew silent, staring at each other.

“Ribbit,” said Aradia.

“This is extremely perplexing,” said Equius.

“Yes.” She turned her attention to the closest music box, around which a gang of ogres was watching them with bloodthirsty eyes. “How about this, why don’t you try it and see how you feel about it?”

He noticed them, too, and he swallowed his exhaustion from the last three hours once more, making fists. “Ok, we’ll try that.”

\------

Equius Zahhak did not get tired. That was going to be his claim from now until the world ended, ignoring the fact that it was already about to, and no matter what he was not going to give up that assertion for all the boonbucks on this strange planet.

“You look exhausted, Equius.”

“I don’t…get…tired,” he panted, leaning against a golden structure amidst the quartz.

“Uh-huh. Why don’t you take a rest?”

He scowled at her. “Without a proper…recuperacoon filled with sopor slime? And with ogres, lichs, and…imps shuffling around everywhere? Jokes are…unbecoming of you, Aradia, and you’ll…stop.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is that an order?”

“Was me taking a rest an order?”

“Ok, fine. It’s not an order, but you’re not going to get very far in that state. And I wasn’t joking.

“Sleep,” she repeated, a little kinder. “I can’t do much about the nightmares, but I can keep watch.”

“You…you fought just as hard as I these last few hours,” he stated, sounding confused by the very existence of the words.

“I’m a robot. I don’t need sleep.” She took him by the shoulders and pressed him firmly against one of the music boxes, grateful that any new sweat that action may have caused went indistinguishable from what was already there. In his state, he had little energy to protest, though he attempted to anyway.

“This is most…irregular, Aradia, you…shouldn’t be…”

“You should sleep,” she murmured, stepping away from him. Before he could finish his sentence, exhaustion had won out, and the vision of her before him blurred into the ice blue of the land as his eyes closed. He didn’t have to tell her he was only obeying. Some habits were simply necessary, but others were hard to break.

\------

Sometimes they just wandered, side by side, when those nearby enemies had caught a glimpse of what the pair of them could do and chose wisely to leave them be. Sometimes they remained silent, only guessing at what the other was thinking. Other times they spoke.

“Where did Aurthour get to, anyway?” he asked once, long after he had had to abandon his one rag of a towel.

“He will be able to join you later,” she explained, counting music boxes again in her head.

He stopped to wipe his brow with the back of his hand, and to look at her carefully. “You seem to know an awful lot about this game.”

“When I prototyped myself into the kernelsprite, I gained an enormous amount of information about the game’s inner workings.”

“Then why have you remained silent about it?” Equius demanded incredulously.

“You didn’t ask.”

He paused. “So if I ask you a question, you will answer?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

Aradia stopped to inspect one of the smaller music boxes protruding out from the crystal of her world, noting its features dismissively. “That is also a construct of the game. Answers are not meant to come easily.”

“Why not?”

“Because.” The music box was partially encased in quartz, and she couldn’t captchalogue it easily.

Equius ground his teeth a little, ignoring the feeling of more little bits of them breaking off. “What is the point of this game?”

“It is an elaborate attempt to save our race.”

“You’ve already expressed the fact that we would fail. Why are we still playing?”

“Because some of us still believe we can succeed.”

“Then why are the rest of us still going?”

“Why do you keep living despite the fact that you will eventually die?” she countered.

“Your answers are unbearably ambiguous,” he told her, annoyed. “I demand that you stop.”

Her focus shifted briefly, sending a psychic pulse towards the music box. The quartz around it shattered violently, freeing the device.

Aradia calmly captchalogued the music box, and it disappeared into the ether amongst her other items, held in the sway of the spirits that spoke to her. “I can’t really control the ambiguity. And even if I could,” she added, turning towards him, “your demands are useless.”

Equius, however, seemed to have lost track of the conversation with her sudden display of destruction. Sweat shone again on his forehead and the side of his neck. “Why…why did you do that?”

She tilted her head at the crater in the quartz that the music box had left behind. “I felt like it,” was her only answer.

\------

“You look exhausted,” he panted, leaning against a tall crystalline spire. Between them their sudden assailants, a pair of Quartz Giclops, had finally gone down in a shower of grist, but not without quite a bit of difficulty. Aradia had gone unscathed, and he was merely bleeding lightly from a scratch on his shoulder, but the fight had taken its toll nonetheless.

“I am a robot. I do not get exhausted. You, on the other hand--”

“I am…Equius Zahhak. I do not…get tired.”

“Your attempts are duplicity are both impotent and unimpressive.” Aradia settled on an outcropping of quartz and rested her metallic chin in a metallic hand. “Rest. I will keep watch as before.”

“Aradia--”

“ _Rest_ ,” she insisted, and not for the first time Equius did not regret making a robot as strong as he was. He had little energy left to argue, and even less left to fight with her, and in some strange way it felt almost _gratifying_ to comply, so he leaned obediently backwards until he was nearly horizontal on the quartz surface of the planet.

But sleep, even ignoring the lack of a proper recuperacoon and the soothing feel of the sopor slime around him, was difficult to come by. He remained awake, staring up at the starless, moonless, blank sky of her world. As he listened, she settled nearby to keep watch for underlings. She was so close, yet so far away. His eyes refused to close, still straying towards where she sat motionless, eternal, waiting. So close…

“Is…there anything nearby?” he asked, his breath returning slowly now that he was motionless.

“No. Perhaps they’ve taken the hint from our defeat of those two.” She pointed to where the bodies of the giclopses would be, if they had remained behind, even if he couldn’t see.

“Then maybe you could…”

“What?”

Grinding his teeth again, Equius passed the back of his hand over his brow, still soaked in blue-tinted sweat. “Perhaps you could…stop keeping watch…”

“I told you I’m not tired--”

“…and join me,” he finished, “maybe.”

She stared at him. “What.”

He shrugged to contain the way his body was trembling from exhaustion (or was that nerves?), keeping his gaze pointed at the sky. “Maybe you could join me. With your head,” he patted the upper part of his chest, by his collarbone, “right here.”

As he watched the sky, slowly her form came into view, looming over him. Her arms were crossed. “Is that an order?” she asked, sounding expectant, annoyed.

He closed his eyes, and for a while he didn’t know how to answer.

“It’s not an order,” he finally discovered. “Just something that would be nice if you wanted to do.”

“Ribbit,” was all she said, and Equius soon abandoned the line of thought that had led to the suggestion. It was probably too late. Maybe her feelings ran too black for him after all. She was too much a blue blood to take orders from him, and too much a red blood to happily comply with them anyway. Too much a red blood to issue any orders herself, and too much a blue blood to believe he’d go along with anything she ordered him. What had he done to himself, bringing this strange being into the world--one who was so much a member of both worlds so as to be a part of neither?

As if to further confound him, while sleep continued to elude him, he felt her settle onto his chest, warm metal a hard but strangely comforting weight upon him. He reached up between her curved metal horns and stroked her thin metallic strands of hair, and she didn’t retreat from him, didn’t slip away as subtly as she’d come. He didn’t ask her why, or what had caused her to grant his wish. She was too much a red blood to resist the intentions of the game, and too much a blue blood to give him a straight answer anyway. Feeling his eyes close heavily, he went to sleep dreaming of the mix of red and blue that she was, and woke up immediately in a land awash with purple.

\------

When he came to, she was gone. Panic shot through Equius’s chest as he leapt up, ignoring the residual exhaustion as he cast around wildly for her. But she was merely a dozen or so yards away, dispatching a Gold Basilisk neatly with a wave of her hand, and collecting the cascade of grist that resulted. She stood still, moving her fingers carefully as if trying to calculate something.

“Aradia,” he began hesitantly, walking over to her. She stopped counting and turned slowly to look at him, take stock of him.

“It was attempting to sneak up on us,” she explained.

He shook his head, dismissing that line of conversation. “I dreamed,” he told her, “of a place entirely clad in purple. Is this another part of the game? What does it mean?”

“So you did wake up,” she acknowledged, in lieu of an answer.

“What does it mean?” Equius had little patience for the game’s ambiguity. In his dream he had glimpsed a world full of sleeping…sleeping friends, he supposed, all clad as equals, all dreaming what dreams he could not fathom. But she was not among them, her fellow blue-team members. Why?

She looked away from him, down at the spot where the basilisk had once stood, and eventually refused to answer. “I would like to discuss what you saw in your dream with you, Equius, but at the moment I’m short on time.”

“What do you mean? What’s--”

“I need to find a return node. There’s something I need to make.”

“Aradia, explain yourself!” She had begun to head towards a deep red portal just visible above a high cliff of quartz, but he took hold of her arm, stopping her. “You insisted that we work together in this game; are you going back on that now?”

Her robotic face was impassive as she turned her head a little to look back at him. The voices assuaged her that he would not hinder her until she had finished her task, and that he could not afterwards. “You may come with me,” she finally said, “but this has nothing to do with you.”

When he stared at her, unsure how to take this, she took it as consent and, with an arm around him, she lifted them both up into the air and towards the portal.

“So you’re not going to tell me what you need to make, or why it’s so important that you do it immediately?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it does not concern you.”

They floated with ease through the return node and blinked back into existence upon Aradia’s ruined hive. It looked as if Nepeta had been kind enough to make most of the available upgrades to her alchemiter in the time she had been gone.

“You’re wrong.” Equius stepped out of Aradia’s grip the moment his feet hit the ground, and she let him, already turning her attention to her task. Her first step was to get that music box’s code, so she activated her sylladex. “I am fairly concerned. Rather concerned. Your actions are very concerning.”

“Nevertheless, they are none of your business.” The spirits were being very cooperative. They spelled out the captchalogue code on her Ouija modus and the voices told her how to change it to fit her needs.

She could feel Equius’s agitation from where she worked, feeding the altered code into the alchemiter and funneling in the proper amounts and types of grist, but she had to ignore him for the time being. Just a little bit longer…

They appeared, finally, on the alchemiter’s platform, twin sets of music box parts mounted on stages of quartz. The last things she needed in order to exact revenge long overdue.

“Aradia--” He cut himself off before he said something he regretted, issued her an order that didn’t feel right anymore, somehow. But in his voice she sensed what he had intended to do, and his struggle with it, and took one last moment with him. After all, with these she had all the time in the world.

“Equius, thank you. What I am about to do I never could have done without your help. You…” She approached him, the music box time machines floating on either side as reminders of the work to be done. And though he waited for her to continue, for the first time she lacked the proper words. “You’ll understand eventually, what I’m doing, and why I’m doing it.”

The kiss she gave him this time was brief, but it lacked the harsh, messy fury of their last embrace. Their lips barely touched, his fingers barely skimmed over the smooth, cool surface of her arm, before she was gone in a flash of blue light.

The world she left behind felt empty, as empty as that from which he had left to find her. The Heir of Void could bring himself to remain here only briefly before he had to move on, the loneliness too encompassing. And besides, he figured, if he kept moving, eventually he would find her.

 

-Epilogue  
Every time he watched those blue metallic lips move, to pronounce hollow words or to form small, half-smiles that were cheap imitations of their former selves, something inside Sollux died. And that was worrisome because Sollux had already died twice, literally, and many times more than that figuratively, so it was fairly likely that there was very little left in him that was capable of death, and he would rather not find out exactly how much.

It was bad enough their session had turned fruitless, that their reward had been snatched away from them the moment they thought they’d finally won. It was bad enough they were stuck here on this stupid asteroid, spinning out in space light years away from anything else resembling life, and it was bad enough that Karkat’s plan to do anything at all about it was to scream at the aliens they’d created like some newly-hatched grub hungry for more lusus milk. But to have to sit here cycle after cycle and watch her pantomime life, speaking almost exclusively to that freakish blue-blooded snob and having become that which she used to despise…

“Sollux? What’s wrong?”

He turned his head an inch and glanced up. Feferi’s usually excited features looked genuinely concerned as she watched him watch Aradia across their laboratory hide-out in the Veil. He had stepped away from his own console to clear his head, but he could only stare at her from over here, conversing quietly with Equius.

“It’th…I don’t know. It’th thtupid, I gueth.”

“Your face is what’s stupid!” she countered brightly, trying to cheer him up.

“Uh…thankth, Feferi.”

The princess’s smile fell as she reached over to Kanaya’s vacant console and borrowed her chair. “Okay, serious time. What’s going on?”

“Well…” Resting his hands on his knees, Sollux nodded over to where Aradia was seated. “You know, Aradia and I uthed to be really good friendth. And then a lot of thtuff happened and thhe died--”

“Yes, I remember Kanaya telling me a little about it when that happened.” Turning, Feferi glubbed in quiet disapproval at Vriska’s also empty chair.

“…Yeah. And thhe wath never the thame after that. At firtht I thought thhe wath mad at me but thhe’th jutht a completely different perthon now. And it thuckth becauthe even though thhe’th not really…dead anymore, thingth’ll never be the thame between uth.”

“Were you two flushed?” she asked, plastering innocence all over her face.

The mustardy color of Sollux’s blood seeped through to reveal itself on his cheeks. “Feferi…!”

“I’m being serious, glub! Because it certainly sounds like roemance is what was going on there. Or at least it was for you.”

Sollux gave her an uncertain look.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be shellfish and jealous like _some_ people.”

“…Maybe. Yeth. I don’t know,” he sighed. “Maybe we were angling for that, but everything happened too fatht.”

A contemplative expression worked its way onto Feferi’s face. “Well, maybe you were, and maybe you weren’t. No use letting it eat at you, what would be the porpoise? People change and relationships change, and this is just another one of those times.”

“I gueth you’re right…”

She watched him carefully, her lips bent into a frown. “But it’s still krilling you that you can’t talk to her the way you used to.” He nodded. “That can be pretty roughy, but, sometimes you just have to reel in what you caught! You can’t always throw it back!”

“…Uh.”

“Oops, did I go overboard again?” Despite her sheepish grin, Feferi leaned over and took Sollux’s hand. “Sorry. Look, why don’t you just go talk to her? It’s got to be betta than ignoring each other, right?”

Together, the two of them glanced back over to the far side of the room, where Aradia and Equius were still quietly conversing.

“It’th not that eathy. Every time I go near her that athhole giveth me a fithhy look. I don’t need _two_ high-clath bulge-thnifferth on my bad thide. No offenthe.”

“None taken,” she promised him, shaking her head. “But don’t you worry about Equius, I’ll take care of him!”

Before he could stop her, Feferi had stood and made her way over to the other side of the room, dodging the various items strewn about the floor.

“Equius! Can I talk to you for a second?”

Sollux would have been lying if he’d said the way Equius’s entire body froze up at the sound of their former empress-in-waiting calling him wasn’t absolutely hilarious, but he knew he’d have little time to spare laughing.

“Y-you wanted to speak to me, your highness?” he asked, already beginning to sweat as he made his way over.

“Yes, I was just thinking that despite being on the same team and all it’s a shame we’ve never really talked before!” she said brightly. “Don’t you think so?”

“I admit I was rather busy with the game, and I’m sure your majesty was as well, though had I known you had an interest in speaking to me, I’d--”

“Oh, hey, Equius, you should call me Feferi, right? I’m not reelly ruling over anyone anemonemore, am I?”

“I-if that’s what you wish, you--I mean, F--…Fefer--…”

“Oh wow, your face is really glubbing blue! Heehee! There’s really no need to get so worked up!”

While Feferi lured Equius away from his console, Sollux carefully made his way over to his own and sat down gingerly.

“Hey Aradia,” he managed to get out.

“Hello Sollux.”

He froze, watching her click around the humans’ timelines uninterestedly.

“Did you need something?” she prompted.

“I gueth…maybe…I don’t know.”

She turned her head to blink at him blankly. “Um.”

“It’th jutht that we don’t really talk anymore.”

“We have been speaking pretty regularly since the game started.”

“Yeah but that’th been jutht all kindth of thit about the game. I mean we haven’t talked like we uthed to.”

She blinked. For the first time, Sollux noticed her eyelids didn’t close at the same time when she did. He shuddered.

“I don’t really remember how we used to talk.”

Words died on his tongue, along with a good deal of whatever was left of him inside that was still alive.

“…Oh.”

Equius turned his face away from the former princess to hide his blush, but he started when his gaze locked onto Aradia’s new conversation partner. “What the heck--!” he muttered, taking a solitary stomp towards the side of the room from which he’d come.

Feferi grabbed his arm before he could get far and quelled his anger with a knowing smile. “Hey, let’s just let them talk, okay? Just for the halibut! Glub!”

He gave her a despairing look but consented, still watching the pair carefully. Aradia had her head tilted to the side as if in confusion.

“Maybe you could remind me. If that would make you happy.”

Uncomfortably, Sollux clenched the seat of his chair with both hands and looked down at the floor between them. “I don’t know, you alwayth uthed to pethter me about all kindth of thit that you were exthited about, and you’d athk me my opinion about them like it meant thomething to you.”

“I see.”

“But you don’t really get exthited about thingth anymore, do you?”

“It’s hard to get excited about anything when you know everything’s ending and when.”

“Thee, that’th what I’m talking about! You were never thith deprething before…before you died.”

“No, I don’t imagine I was.” Aradia blinked one eye, then the other, not quite in sync. “I believe I understand how to proceed. Actually Sollux, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Yeah? What’th that?”

“Prospit,” she said quietly, her eyes falling half-lidded. “And Derse. You were on both of them… What were they like?”

Sollux blinked. “The voitheth never told you?”

“I never had a dreamself. There was never any reason to know.”

“Right…” Gathering himself, he sorted through his memories of the now-destroyed moons, trying to figure out how to describe them. “Well, Derthe bathically thucked. When I wath there no one elthe theemed to be awake, and the voitheth were louder than ever, tho I pretty much got out of there ath thoon ath I could. But Prothpit…” His mouth tilted into a half-smile at the memory despite himself. “Prothpit wath kinda nithe. It wath loud and KK wath thtupid, taking forever to wake up, but it wath almotht fun.”

Aradia listened with an intensity only she could employ, alive or dead, and if Sollux didn’t look at her directly he could trick himself into missing the dull shine of the lights off her metallic carapace. In fact, if he closed his left eye, she almost looked the way she had in life, red where she now was blue, healthy and flushed where cool metal now encased her body.

Feferi was right, he thought. People changed, and they could never really go back to the way things were. But as he spoke about Prospit, about sitting in Karkat’s tower with Terezi and Kanaya, watching him sleep, about his shock at seeing Vriska so genuinely happy for Tavros’s newfound flight, about the time Gamzee had nearly gotten away with riding his unireal air through the White Queen’s throne room, he began to think that perhaps he finally had the answer to his old question. Any Aradia, even a blue-blooded one who was often creepy and depressing to talk to, was better than none at all, and even if she could feel the remotest of emotions stirring in her mechanical robot heart, then at least that part of her was the same as the Aradia he once knew.


End file.
